
Book Qjz,_ 

COPVPIGHT DEPOSIT. 



HEROES OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



CORTfiS 









HERNANDO CORTES 

CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 






BY 



.Y^ 



FREDERICK A. OBER 



HEROES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 







HARPER G- BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1905 

I 






fUiihARY of ::. 



SEP Bl 1905 

COPY S4. 



Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers. 

All rights reserz'ed. 

Published September, 1905. 



S.39^^7 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. In Spain AND HisPANiOLA (1485-1511) i 
II. With Velasquez in Cuba (1511- 

1518) 12 

III. Cortes Sets Out for Mexico (1519) 24 

IV. The Great Battle of Tabasco 

(1519) 38 

V. In the Plumed Serpent's Land 

(1519) 52 

VI. An Alliance with the Totonacs 

(1519) 67 

VII. Cortes Destroys His Fleet (1519) 82 
VIII. Encounters with the Tlascalans 

(1519) 96 

IX. A Massacre in the Holy City (1519) 105 

X. In the City of Mexico (1519) . . 117 

XL At Montezuma's Court (1519) . . 131 

XII. Montezuma a Prisoner (1519-1520) 145 

XIII. An Invasion by Narvaez (1520) . 157 

XIV. The Spaniards Meet with Dis- 

aster (1520) 170 

V 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XV. The Midnight Retreat from 

Mexico (1520) 188 

XVL Siege of the Aztec Capital (1521) 202 
XVII. Montezuma's City Destroyed 

(1521) 217 

XVIII. The Colonization of Mexico 

(1521) 239 

XIX. A Perilous Expedition (1524- 

1526) 256 

XX. Last Voyages and Last Days . 272 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



HERNANDO CORTES Frontispiece 

HUITZILOPOCHTLI, AZTEC GOD OF WAR . . Facing p. 62 

MONTEZUMA " I26 

THE SACRIFICIAL STONE " 140 

TREE OF THE NOCHE TRISTE, AT POPOTLA . . " 1 94 

ALVARADO " 220 

MAPS 

PAGE 

CUBA 33 

ROUTE OF CORTES FROM COZUMEL I. TO MEXICO 53 

CITY OF MEXICO I20 



HERNANDO CORTES 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 
1485-1511 

AT the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
iV the youth of Spain had become inspired 
with the hope, if not the belief, that wealth 
and honors awaited them in the West Indies, 
and what more natural than that many of 
them should wish to try their fortunes 
there? Among those who looked towards 
the Occident for the betterment of their 
birthrights was the boy who, as a man, be- 
came the conqueror of Mexico, Hernando 
Cortes. He was born to poverty, but could 
boast descent from most distinguished an- 
cestry, as the son of a retired captain of the 
Spanish army, Don Martin Cortes de Mon- 
roy, and his worthy wife, Doiia Catalina 
Pizarro Altamirano. 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Hernando Cortes was seven years old 
when America was discovered by Columbus. 
Unlike the great navigator who revealed a 
new continent to Europe, he was a native 
of Spain, and inland born. His eyes first 
opened to the light in the mountain hamlet 
of Medellin, in Estremadura, which is scarce- 
ly better known to-day than it was in that 
far -distant time when the event occurred 
which constitutes almost its only claim to 
fame. 

Very little is known of his youth, but at 
the age of fourteen he might have been found 
in the famous university of Salamanca, 
whence, although his parents indulged in 
great expectations for their precocious son, 
he eventually returned to his home, without 
having accomplished anything at all to his 
credit, except "the writing of Latin, prose 
and verse, indifferently well." 

As to entering the profession of the law, for 
which his fond parents had hoped he would 
equip himself, he had no such intentions, 
but, rather, inclined to that of arms. When, 
therefore, at about the age of seventeen, he 
proposed enlisting in the army for Italy, 
commanded by the Gran Capitan, or Great 
Captain, Gonsalvo de Cordova, his father 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 

and mother freely gave their consent. They 
were, in truth, inclined to the belief that, 
after all, military training, and especially 
its discipline, might be good for the wayward 
boy, whose midnight and other adventures 
were already the talk of the town. 

He felt within him the craving for a life 
of adventure, whether military or other- 
wise, and in the end decided that the newly 
discovered regions in the Western World 
held more of promise in this direction than 
the well-trodden fields of the Old World, 
even under that glorious commander, the 
Gran Capitan. 

His native hamlet of Medellin was distant 
from Seville, and from Palos, whence Co- 
lumbus had first sailed, only a two -days' 
journey, and young Hernando had doubt- 
less met and conversed with more than one 
mariner who had made the great Atlantic 
voyage. He resolved, at all events, to go 
to America, and secured permission to sail 
with Don Nicolas de Ovando, who had been 
appointed the royal commissioner at His- 
paniola, as successor to Colimibus and Bo- 
vadilla in the governorship of that island. 

During the first decade of the sixteenth 
century, and well into the second, the island 
3 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of Haiti, or Hispaniola (discovered by Co- 
lumbus in 1492), and the second city founded 
there, called Santo Domingo, were objects 
of absorbing interest to all Spain. 

By a freak of fortune not uncommon in 
those days, the brothers Columbus (Chris- 
topher, Bartholomew, and Diego) fell into 
disfavor with the Spanish sovereigns, and a 
royal commissioner was sent out to investi- 
gate their conduct. This person was Don 
Francisco de Bovadilla, an obscure knight 
of Calatrava. His head was turned by his 
sudden elevation to power and prominence, 
and he so far exceeded the instructions of 
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand as to 
seize the properties of the three brothers 
and cast them into prison. 

Columbus, the great discoverer, the Span- 
ish sovereigns' own "Admiral of the Ocean 
Sea" (to whom they were indebted for all 
that was embraced in the term America), 
was not only imprisoned, but placed in 
chains. The fettered Columbus was re- 
turned to Spain in the year 1500, and within 
two years, or on February 13, 1502, Don 
Nicolas de Ovando sailed for Santo Domingo, 
bearing a warrant to displace the great 
admiral's immediate successor. 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 

Don Nicolas, himself a native of Estre- 
madura, was acquainted with young Cortes, 
and seemed to like him, so the occasion ap- 
peared most propitious; but, unfortunately, 
the lad's inclination for rash adventures 
led him into difficulty at the very time 
Ovando's armament was being prepared, 
and delayed his departure for the New World 
by at least two years. 

Young as he was at this time, Hernando 
showed himself possessed of a love for in- 
trigue, which proved so detrimental to his 
fortunes later in life. Going out one night, 
''to speak with a lady," he fell from a high 
wall he was scaling in the dark, and received 
such injuries that he was still confined to his 
bed when Ovando's fleet sailed for America. 

As this fleet of thirty-five sail was the 
largest that had yet sought the shores of 
distant America, and as it was commanded 
(in effect) by one well disposed to the recreant 
youth, it would seem that young Cortes 
had lost, by giving rein to indulgence, a 
golden opportunity. His chagrin was great, 
and, that of his parents being yet greater, 
he took the first occasion presenting after his 
recovery to leave Medellin for Valencia, with 
a view of carrying out his original intention, 
5 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of enlisting under the Great Captain for the 
wars in Italy. But the critical moment found 
him ill again, and, after a year of extreme 
poverty and hard usage in Valencia, he re- 
turned home, humbled and penitent. 

Expeditions from Spain to the New World 
were relatively numerous in those days, and 
when, in 1504, Cortes learned that a fleet 
was fitting out at San Lucar, bound for 
Santo Domingo, he hastened to secure a 
passage. He was furnished by his father 
with just sufficient money, from his scant 
savings, and given the paternal blessing. 
For the latter, the heartless Hernando little 
cared (it is said) , nor recked he that his means 
were small ; for he then had health, good looks, 
abundant wit, an audacious manner, and 
great flow of spirits, all which made him a 
universal favorite. 

The voyage was an unfortunate one for 
all concerned, the vessel in which he took 
passage having been blown out of her course, 
dismasted, buffeted by adverse winds, and 
nearly wrecked by tempests. When finally 
landed at Santo Domingo, Cortes jauntily 
betook himself to the governor's house, 
confident that his many merits would be 
promptly recognized. 
6 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 

Governor Ovando was away on an Indian- 
hunting expedition, the natives of Higuey, 
the easternmost province of Hispaniola, hav- 
ing risen in rebellion, because one of their 
caciques had been torn to pieces by Spanish 
blood -hounds. Hunting the Indians with 
blood- hounds was a pastime in which Ovando 
frequently indulged, for he was the most 
cruel of all the governors sent out to His- 
paniola. 

After running the rebellious Indians to 
earth, hanging their last great cacique (or 
chief), Cotubanama, and cutting off the hands 
of many red-skinned rebels. Governor Ovando 
finally returned to the capital. He was in 
great spirits (having at last overcome the 
worst of the rebels), and when Hernando 
Cortes preferred his request — for an estate 
in the gold region and a license to mine the 
precious metal — he was not disappointed. 
Ovando 's secretary had previously assured 
him that he should have a grant of land, 
with an encomienda ^ of Indians to till it ; 
but the proud hidalgo had retorted : " Sefior 
Secretario, know you that I came here to 

^Encomienda — ain-co-me-ain'-da: in this sense a 
body of laborers, practically slaves, going with a grant 
of land. 



HERNANDO CORTES 

get gold, and not to cultivate the soil like a 
peasant!" 

Finding, however, that the gold-mines were 
nearly exhausted, and that the poor Indians 
were a free gift, going with the soil in repar- 
timientos (or apportionments), this youth of 
nineteen, who had no other fortune than 
his sword, graciously consented to receive 
them. He finally settled down as a planter 
and slave-driver, and also received an ap- 
pointment as notary in the town of Azua. 
This town was founded that very year, 
1504, by one of Ovando's most energetic 
lieutenants, Diego Velasquez, of whom we 
shall hear more anon. 

It is probable that Cortes accompanied 
Velasquez to the site of the settlement and 
assisted at its birth, though his friend had 
visited the section before. It was the year 
before, in 1503, that Ovando, under pretence 
that the natives of Xaragua, the south- 
western province of Hispaniola, were medi- 
tating a revolt, marched upon them with 
an army. While he was the honored guest 
of Queen Anacaona and her chiefs (who 
had assembled, at his request, for consulta- 
tion), Ovando gave the order that resulted 
in such a slaughter of the inoffensive Indians 
8 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 

that very few of them were left alive. Thou- 
sands were butchered in the plaza of the 
Indian town, forty caciques were either 
hanged or burned alive, while women, babes, 
and children were murdered in cold blood. 
The artless and innocent Anacaona was 
taken to Santo Domingo, where, after a pre- 
tence of trial, she was hanged in the plaza 
of the capital and her remains thrown to 
the dogs. 

Diego Velasquez was one of that band of 
assassins which had committed the massa- 
cre, for it was known that he guarded one of 
the huts containing the caciques who were 
burned alive, and afterwards assisted at 
the hangings. His character may be im- 
plied from acts like these, which he was 
prone to commit with little provocation; 
and the subsequent career of Hernando 
Cortes furnishes abundant proof that he 
profited by his companion's teachings. 

Cortes and Velasquez were thrown much 
together, and, so far as the scant records 
inform us, became almost inseparable com- 
panions, buried as they were in that lonely 
settlement, nearly one hundred miles from 
the capital city. You will find Azua, to- 
day, a miserable hamlet, on the south coast 
9 



HERNANDO CORTfiS 

of the island, occupied mainly by colored 
people. Though it was founded four hun- 
dred years ago, it can boast no important 
structures, as it has been several times 
shaken to pieces by earthquakes and burned 
by revolutionists. In the Bay of Ocoa (a 
few miles from which Azua is situated) 
Columbus sought shelter from a hurricane 
that destroyed Bovadilla's fleet, in the year 
1502, and which he had accurately predicted. 
It is probable that when the aged admiral 
returned to Santo Domingo, from his dis- 
astrous voyage to Jamaica, Cortes may have 
seen him there, for it was in the summer of 
1504. Thus Hernando Cortes forms a link 
in the human chain connecting the discov- 
erers, like Columbus, with the conquistador es 
(or conquerors), like Velasquez and Pizarro, 
who subjugated Cuba and Peru. 

At the time of his advent in the West 
Indies, the Indians had been largely " pacifi- 
cated " — in other words, nearly exterminated 
— and the few survivors not laboring on the 
plantations of the Spaniards were hiding in 
the mountains. Without taking an active 
part in any pitched battle with the natives, 
or even in many skirmishes, yet Cortes was 
often employed in hunting them down, go- 
10 



IN SPAIN AND HISPANIOLA 

ing out with Velasquez on his murderous 
forays. In this manner he acquired an inti- 
mate knowledge of Indian modes of warfare, 
which served him well in after-years. 

The life led by Cortes and his boon com- 
panions in Hispaniola was wild and licen- 
tious, without restraint of any sort whatever. 
Their treatment of the natives was most 
atrocious, as not only did they hold their 
honor in light esteem, but they frequently 
struck off an Indian's head or hand merely 
to *'try the temper" of their swords. In 
default of fugitive Indians to harry, Cortes 
sometimes found vent for his flow of spirits 
in duels with his countrymen, the scars from 
which he is said to have carried to his grave. 



II 

WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 
1511-1518 

CONTAINING the first settlements 
founded by Europeans in the New 
World (Isabella, 1493, ^^^ Santo Domingo, 
1496), Hispaniola had rapidly risen to a 
position of commanding importance, and 
while Hernando Cortes was in the island it 
was a centre of activities that had as their 
object the conquest of new territories and 
their settlement. With his enterprising and 
restless nature, it is strange that he was not 
drawn into some of the many schemes for 
conquest that had their origin in the island 
or were promoted there. It is on record, in 
fact, that he came near embarking on that 
ill-fated expedition fitted out in Hispaniola 
by Alonzo de Ojeda, in 1509, whom he was 
prevented from accompanying by illness. 
Among those who went with Ojeda, and of 
12 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

the few who survived the disastrous venture, 
were Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who discovered 
the Pacific in 15 13, and Francisco Pizarro, 
whom fate preserved to be the conqueror of 
Peru. 

It was in the year 1509, also, that Don 
Diego Columbus, son of Christopher, arrived 
in Santo Domingo as viceroy, accompanied 
by his wife, the daughter of a Spanish 
grandee, and distantly related to King Fer- 
dinand of Spain. Don Diego was a just 
man, and, in the main, ruled the Indies wise- 
ly. He extended his sway over the islands 
as rapidly as possible, and when, using the 
means nearest at hand, he despatched Diego 
Velasquez to complete the conquest of Cuba, 
he rewarded and recognized the merits of an 
old soldier, notwithstanding that he had been 
a favorite with Ovando, the enemy of his 
house. 

Preparations for the Cuban campaign were 
a long time in progress, and it was not until 
151 1 that Velasquez finally sailed from the 
port of Santo Domingo, with four vessels and 
300 men. The names of nearly all who went 
with him have passed into oblivion; but at 
least two besides himself, Hernando Cortes 
and Bartolome de las Casas, are inseparably 
13 



HERNANDO CORTES 

connected with the great events attendant 
upon the conquest of America. 

It was quite natural that Cortes should 
accompany his friend and boon companion, 
Velasquez, on this expedition, for they had 
hunted Indians and smaller game together, 
in the mountain fastnesses of Hispaniola, 
and were well acquainted with each other's 
qualities. Velasquez had tried the temper 
of Hernando Cortes in many a foray against 
the Indians of Hispaniola, and he was not 
disappointed at his behavior in Cuba. The 
young man, in fact, was in every fight in 
which his company took part. While fiery 
and courageous in battle, he was patient 
under the trials of the march, and in camp 
his good nature and lively wit won him 
hosts of friends. His character at that 
time was that of the "happy-go-lucky" ad- 
venturer, a part which he had sustained in 
Hispaniola, with no evidence of a nature 
more profound. At the age of twenty-six 
he was still the light-hearted youth who 
had sought gold and glory in America. 
Though he had found neither the one nor the 
other, he yet seemed content, and, after the 
Indians were ''pacified," he took what lands 
and slaves fell to his share and settled down 
14 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

to a life closely patterned after that he had 
led in Hispaniola. The historian who knew 
him best in after-life alludes to him at this 
period as a "respectable hidalgo," when 
called upon to assume greater responsibili- 
ties, and an alcalde (judge or justice) of 
Santiago de Cuba. 

Santiago was founded in 151 5, and, though 
not the first Spanish settlement in Cuba 
(that honor belonging to Baracoa), soon be- 
came of the greatest importance, owing to 
its magnificent harbor and its commanding 
situation, on the south coast, facing Haiti- 
Santo Domingo and the sea-channel to Pana- 
ma. Here Velasquez made his headquarters, 
hither flocked numerous noble families from 
Spain, and also many old soldiers from Darien, 
Jamaica, and other parts, where they had 
failed to find the fortunes they had come to 
seek. 

In the train of Don Diego Columbus and 
his wife, Dofia Maria de Toledo, there had 
come out to Santo Domingo quite a number 
of ladies, some of noble birth, who were in 
search (the gossips of the time asserted) of 
husbands with money, regardless of true 
merit or ancestry. Most of these ladies 
found the objects of their search in Santo 
15 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Domingo, where they exerted a beneficial in- 
fluence upon the uncouth colonists, and a 
few followed after Velasquez to Cuba. One 
of these was a lovely woman, Catalina Suarez 
Pacheco, whom Cortes had met in Santo 
Domingo, and to whom he had probably 
pledged himself; for she certainly had a 
claim upon him when in Santiago, which 
was supported not only by her family but 
by Governor Velasquez. 

It is asserted that the governor was in- 
terested in one of Catalina 's three sisters, 
and though there is no proof that he ever 
married her, still he was very insistent that 
his companion-at-arms, Cortes, should ful- 
fil his obligations to the lady he had com- 
promised. This the fickle Cortes was by no 
means willing to do, the care-free and irre- 
sponsible life he had led hitherto being far 
more to his liking. 

Then ensued a comical contest between 
the two gallants, which ended in a doubtful 
victory for Velasquez; the recreant Cortes 
finally wedding the fair Catalina, with whom, 
as he subsequently boasted, he was " as well 
pleased as if she had been the daughter of a 
duchess." However this may have been, 
the actual fulfilment of his obligations was 
i6 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

only brought about by compulsion, and 
Cortes never overlooked the ofificious inter- 
ference of Velasquez. 

Having a grievance against the governor, 
as he thought, he joined a body of malcon- 
tents and became the leader in a conspiracy, 
which Velasquez thwarted by clapping him 
into prison. 

Contriving to break jail, Cortes took ref- 
uge in a church, where he was safe from ar- 
rest for a while, until again secured by strata- 
gem and reimprisoned. Then he was placed 
in double irons and sent aboard a vessel 
bound for Santo Domingo, where he was to 
be judged in court for his offences. But he 
escaped a second time, and, plunging over- 
board at the risk of his life, swam to shore, 
regained his sanctuary in the church, and de- 
fied arrest. 

Having secured a sword and suit of armor, 
in a spirit of bravado, one evening, Cortes 
left his chosen refuge and suddenly appeared 
before Velasquez in his own apartment at 
the palace. The governor was unarmed, 
and, being at the mercy of the man he had 
offended, he was compelled to listen to that 
man's estimate of his character. The two 
held a hot discussion, but finally, the humor 
17 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of the situation appealing to Velasquez, and 
the feeling of old companionship asserting 
itself, he proffered a reconciliation. Cortes 
promptly fell into his arms, and they em- 
braced like brothers — or, rather, like Span- 
iards and Frenchmen. When, shortly after, a 
messenger arrived with the news of the pris- 
oner's escape, that fugitive was found, it is 
said, sleeping in the governor's bed. 

This story cannot be declared authentic; 
but, in view of the intimate relations which 
had previously existed between these two 
campaigners, and the notoriously reckless 
disposition of Cortes, it is not improbable. 
At all events, the governor's favor was sud- 
denly regained, and with it wealth and honor 
came to Cortes. He became prosperous as 
a planter and miner, being among the first 
to introduce choice cattle into Cuba and to 
work the mines of copper in the vicinity of 
Santiago. As to the poor Indians who toil- 
ed on his plantations and in his mines, many 
of whom died from abuse and over-work, 
says Las Casas, "God alone can render a 
proper accounting." 

In the city of Santiago, to-day, may be 
seen the house which, according to tradition, 
was occupied by Cortes while he was alcalde ; 
i8 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

in the neighborhood was his estate, and in 
the mountains of Cobre, across the bay, were 
the mines from which he derived both gold 
and copper. There are no descendants Hv- 
ing of the Indians who occupied Cuba at the 
coming of the Spaniards, for the last vestige 
of them passed away before the end of the 
century in which the island was invaded. 

With the Spaniards firmly established in 
Cuba, the initial point for exploration and 
conquest was shifted from Hispaniola and 
its capital city of Santo Domingo to the 
island subsequently known as the " Pearl of 
the Antilles." Governor Velasquez encour- 
aged the veteran soldiers from the Tierra 
Firma (as the coast country of South Ameri- 
ca, since called the "Spanish Main," was de- 
nominated) to embark on expeditions of ad- 
venture, and especially recommended that 
they should organize and make a descent 
upon some islands between Cuba and Hon- 
duras, for the purpose of obtaining slaves. 

The old soldiers were poor but honorable 
men; they were athirst for adventure and 
for gold; but they rejected the governor's 
overtures, and sailed off in a more northerly 
direction than that he had suggested. They 
19 



HERNANDO CORTES 

had induced a wealthy hidalgo, one Fran- 
cisco de Cordova, who then lived at Sancti 
Spiritus, but who had come with Velasquez 
from Hispaniola, to take command of their 
little fleet of three small vessels and embark 
a portion of his fortune in the enterprise. 
They were piloted by the celebrated Ala- 
minoS) who had been with Columbus, and 
who later was in charge of the first vessel 
that made the voyage from Mexico to Spain. 

Setting sail from Santiago one day in 
February, 15 17, they finally made land at 
the northeastern extremity of the peninsula 
now know as Yucatan. Their pilot was not 
of great service, for they had wandered into 
unknown waters ; but he was probably guid- 
ed by the accounts left by Columbus, who 
learned of the Yucatan and Honduras coast 
in 1502, and by the vague description of De 
Solis and Pinzon, who had sighted it in 1506. 

Still these bold adventurers were the first 
white men to land and "take possession" of 
the country — at least they were the first to 
make the attempt to do so; but were every- 
where received with hostility by the natives, 
who in several battles killed half the entire 
company of no, and wounded every one of 
the survivors, including the captain and Ala- 
20 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

minos. In their extremity, the adventur- 
ers burned their smallest vessel, and in the 
two craft remaining sped across the Gulf of 
Mexico to Florida. Thence they finally made 
their way to the harbor of Havana, where, 
two years later, a city was founded. 

Captain Cordova was taken across the 
island to his plantation, where he soon died 
of his wounds, and an express was sent over- 
land to Santiago, informing the governor of 
what the first expedition from Cuba had 
discovered. As some idols and ornaments 
of wrought gold had been found in a temple 
(which were, of course, secured and taken to 
Cuba), and as great cities built of stone had 
been seen, indicating a populous and prob- 
ably wealthy country, the imagination of 
Velasquez took fire at once. He immediate- 
ly commenced the fitting-out of another ex- 
pedition, this time mainly at his own expense, 
which he placed under the command of his 
nephew, Juan de Grijalva, a worthy young 
man, and sent couriers all over the island 
for volunteers. 

The unfortunate remnants of the first 
venture, veterans of many campaigns and 
planters of the island, had been compelled 
to shift for themselves, after landing at 

21 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Havana, and had suffered many hardships. 
But such was the spirit of adventure that 
animated the restless souls of these gallant 
men, that all who were able to go enlisted at 
once, and also many others, so that a com- 
pany of 200 was raised for the second ex- 
pedition, which consisted of four vessels well 
equipped. 

This second Cuban expedition, under com- 
mand of Grijalva, sailed from the port of 
Matanzas early in April, 15 18, ten days 
later passing the western cape of Cuba, and 
in eight more sighting the beautiful island 
of Cozumel, off the east coast of Yucatan. 
The strong sea-currents had set them to the 
southward of Cordova's course, but eight 
days later they landed at Champotan, where 
the first explorers had met with defeat, and 
where Grijalva's men were set upon by the 
natives, who were beaten back with great 
loss. 

Thus, alternately fighting the ferocious 
Indians and sailing along the shores of an 
unknown land, Grijalva finally arrived at 
a point much farther westward than any 
white man had ever been before in those 
waters. He was rewarded not only by the 
discovery of a river (originally called the 
22 



WITH VELASQUEZ IN CUBA 

Grijalva, now the Tabasco), but by finding 
natives who received him hospitably, bring- 
ing the Spaniards quantities of cooked pro- 
visions and golden ornaments in the shape 
of birds and lizards. 

These objects of gold, they informed Gri- 
jalva, came from a rich and powerful country 
far distant inland, known as ''Acolhua," or 
** Mexico," words which the Spaniards first 
heard at that time. Still farther on, as the 
" River of Banners " (so called from the many 
Indians seen there with white flags), the 
Spaniards first met with emissaries of the 
great Montezuma, ruler over Mexico 



Ill 

CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

MONTEZUMA'S messengers were abun- 
dantly supplied with provisions, and 
also with gold, which they gladly gave in 
exchange for such trifles (in their eyes of in- 
estimable value) as cut glass and beads. 
Having acquired such a quantity of treas- 
ure, Grijalva thought it advisable to send 
a vessel back to Cuba with it, following it 
himself about a month later. This vessel 
was placed in charge of Pedro de Alvarado, 
who acquired great prominence in the sub- 
sequent campaign in Mexico. He was gra- 
ciously received by Velasquez, who seemed 
overjoyed at the success of the enterprise; 
but when Grijalva finally returned to Cuba 
he was met with reproaches for not having 
planted a colony in the newly discovered 
land, instead of merely coasting its shores. 
24 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

Grijalva appears to have been modest, as 
well as discreet, and, finding that his erratic 
relative did not intend to give him command 
of the greater expedition he was then fitting 
out, he made no protest, but quietly retired 
to his estate at Trinidad. He had sent and 
taken back gold to the amount of twenty 
thousand crowns, with which even the ava- 
ricious and captious Velasquez was well satis- 
fied; but the positive information he had 
obtained — the first definite knowledge of a 
vast empire beyond that mysterious coast — 
was of greater value than the treasure. 

Neither the dishonored Grijalva nor his 
men benefited from the discovery of this 
treasure, for it was appropriated by Velas- 
quez, in the name of the king. The sturdy 
soldiers and sailors of the expedition had 
relied upon receiving large returns, especial- 
ly as among the curious articles they had 
brought back to Cuba were more than 600 
"golden" hatchets, which they had obtained 
by barter from the Indians. These hatchets 
were so bright and shining that they ap- 
peared to be of solid gold ; but, says the his- 
torian who was one of the company, ''there 
was great laughter in Cuba when they were 
assayed and found to be of copper/' 
25 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Rendered uneasy by the long absence of 
his nephew, Velasquez had despatched one 
Cristoval de Olid in search of him; but his 
caravel was nearly wrecked, and he had re- 
turned without tidings, just previous to the 
arrival of Alvarado . Meanwhile , preparations 
for a third expedition had gone forward, and 
by the time Grijalva returned were well ad- 
vanced. This armament was to exceed the 
others in every respect, for, while Cordova 
had sailed with only three small vessels, and 
Grijalva with four, the new "armada" was 
to consist of ten. 

Governor Velasquez was for a long while 
uncertain as to whom he should appoint 
commander of this great expedition. One 
man, the gallant Grijalva, had earned the 
right to this command, and if Velasquez had 
bestowed it upon him all his subsequent 
troubles might have been avoided. But, 
turning a deaf ear to the claims of his esti- 
mable nephew, the governor, making the 
natural mistake of a nature cankered by dis- 
solute living, appointed the man who ap- 
pealed to him through mercenary motives. 

This man was Hernando Cortes, as ap- 
pears by the " Instructions " issued by Velas- 
quez, dated October 23, 15 18, at Fernandina 
26 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

(as Cuba was called at that time). It has 
been claimed that the governor made this 
appointment at the urgent recommendation 
of his secretary, Andres de Duero, and the 
king's contador (auditor) in Cuba, Amador 
de Lares; but those who make this claim 
seem to have lost sight of the long acquaint- 
ance which had already existed between 
Velasquez and Cortes. Irrespective of their 
influence, indeed, there were numerous rea- 
sons why the friend and former comrade of 
the governor should have received this im- 
portant commission. 

In the first place, Cortes was undoubtedly 
the best man for the command, so far as his 
abilities went; in the second, he was then 
one of the wealthiest men in Cuba, next to 
the governor himself, and from his nature 
was predisposed to lavish all his wealth upon 
the enterprise. With seven years to his 
credit in Hispaniola, and as many more in 
Cuba, throughout which long period Velas- 
quez had known him intimately, it is un- 
likely indeed that Cortes owed less to his 
merits than to his influence. 

Once assured of the command, Cortes, in 
the words of one who knew him, "made his 
money fly" to such good purpose that he 
27 



HERNANDO CORTES 

soon won hosts of friends and followers. His 
popularity increased with the outflow of 
gold from his coffers, and soon, permitted by- 
Velasquez to bear the major portion of the 
vast expense incident to the outfitting of the 
armament, he was obliged to mortgage his 
estates, to draw upon the resources of his 
friends, and to obtain advances from the 
merchants of Santiago. 

In respect to his lavish generosity, Velas- 
quez had made no mistake in counting upon 
Cortes; but the latter's reckless advances to 
gain popularity, and soon his evident desire 
to be off and away, began to excite the gov- 
ernor's suspicions. He well knew that his 
friend was capable, energetic, indomitable 
as a fighter, patient under reverses, abstemi- 
ous, cool in danger, but ever crafty and cal- 
culating. He also realized, when his sus- 
picions were aroused, that Cortes was most 
tenacious of his rights and privileges, keen, 
subtle — in short, that he possessed all the 
qualifications for independent and exclusive 
command, in whatever enterprise he might 
undertake. 

Long accustomed to have his slightest 
wish obeyed, having for many years lorded 
it over herds of cringing natives, he had 
28 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

acquired a domineering manner, which he 
tempered with deference when in the com- 
pany of superiors. With the commonalty 
he was very popular, owing to his super- 
ficial gayety, his lavish expenditures (when 
convinced that they would promote his 
schemes), and his admirable temper, which 
was always held under rigid restraint. 

Though hardly above the average height 
in stature, his shoulders were broad and his 
strength was great. As a horseman he was 
superb, having been in the saddle almost 
daily for years, while he greatly excelled at 
sword-play and in the practice of arms in 
general. His numerous ''affairs of honor," 
when pursuing his amatory conquests, had 
given him a reputation which he had not 
yet outlived, despite his latter years of sober 
married life with Doiia Catalina. His dark 
and flashing eye had a compelling effect 
upon all he met, and he was often feared 
when and where he was not respected. 

When in the company of those of equal or 
superior station, he was ever " putting his 
best foot foremost," and as soon as he im- 
agined himself secure in his appointment he 
"appeared in much greater state as to his 
own person, wearing a plume of feathers 
29 



HERNANDO CORTES 

and a gold medal in his cap, which orna- 
ments became him very well." He sur- 
rounded himself with a body - guard, and 
Dona Catalina presented him with a stand- 
ard of black velvet, embroidered in gold, 
upon which was a red cross in the midst of 
bluish flames, with the inspiring motto: 
** Brothers, let us follow this Cross with true 
faith, for by it we shall surely conquer." 

Proclamation was made by drum and 
trumpet throughout the island, promising to 
volunteers shares in the gold to be found, 
and men flocked to his standard from every 
quarter. " Nothing was to be seen or spoken 
of," says one who went with the expedition, 
"but the selling of lands to purchase arms 
and horses, the quilting of coats of mail, the 
baking of bread, and the salting of pork for 
sea-stores." 

It seems to have occurred to Velasquez, 
about this time, that he had been overhasty 
in naming Cortes for the command; but 
whether it was owing to suggestion from 
others or to a quickened conscience is not 
clearly known. 

" Beware of this Cortes, an Estremaduran, 
full of crafty and ambitious thoughts," he 
was reminded by one. 
30 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

"Have a care, Diego," said Cervantes, the 
governor's fool, one day, with the familiarity 
of the privileged jester, ''or we shall have 
to go hunting for this Captain Cortes some 
time or other." 

Cortes, who was walking with the gov- 
ernor at the time, turned upon the fool and 
cuffed his ears ; but the latter reiterated his 
warning as he ran away, and added: ''Long 
life to my friend Diego and his lucky captain. 
Methinks I shall go with him myself, that I 
may not see thee crying, friend Diego, at the 
bad bargain thou hast made." 

Two different accounts are given of the 
departure of Cortes and his fleet from San- 
tiago, one relating that he went only after 
taking courteous leave of the governor in due 
form, with vast politeness and frequent salu- 
tations on both sides ; the other that he sailed 
hastily at sunrise, the indignant Velasquez 
arriving at the shore only just in time to see 
the last of the fleet as it drifted down the 
bay. We have, however, the evidence of a 
member of the party that the leave-taking 
was dignified, the governor accompanying 
his friend the captain - general to his flag- 
ship. It is also expressly stated that the 
fleet sailed when but half equipped and with 
31 



HERNANDO CORTES 

less than its full complement of men, owing 
to the fears of Cortes that his commission 
might be revoked. 

While he was drumming up recruits at the 
port of Trinidad (one of the oldest settle- 
ments on the south coast of Cuba), orders 
arrived, in fact, for the alcalde of that town 
to arrest and detain Captain-General Cortes, 
as the governor had deposed him and be- 
stowed the position upon another. But the 
alcalde dared not enforce this command, so 
popular had Cortes become. He had, more- 
over, now received as accessions some of the 
choicest spirits among the rich hidalgos of 
Cuba, most of whom were at that time set- 
tled at or near Trinidad. 

Ordering Pedro de Alvarado (the same who 
had returned with Grijalva's gold) to march 
overland from Trinidad to Havana, Cortes 
again put to sea, and met him in the latter 
port, where he completed the outfitting of 
the squadron. He had previously despoiled 
the king's farms at Macaca of such stores as 
he could find, and had taken by force all the 
meats that Santiago's butcher had on hand 
for the city's use on the morrow, rewarding 
him with a great gold chain which hung about 
his neck. Also, by great good luck falling 
32 



HERNANDO CORTES 

in with a coasting-vessel laden with provi- 
sions, he seized its cargo, paying for the same 
in bills of exchange. Then, learning of an- 
other vessel coming along the coast from the 
westward, he despatched a ship to intercept 
it, thus recklessly playing the "gentleman 
corsair" at the very beginning of his great 
career. 

While in Trinidad, Cortes had improved 
the time gathering munitions ( f every sort. 
All the smiths of the town were engaged in 
making arrow-heads, and as many as could 
be persuaded were enlisted, as well as soldiers 
and sailors. The musketeers and cross-bow- 
men were constantly practised in firing at 
marks, and scouts were sent out in all di- 
rections in search of horses, these animals 
being excessively scarce and dear. Horses 
had but recently been brought out from 
Europe, at infinite pains and expense, and 
were so valuable that only the richest plant- 
ers could afford them. They were worth the 
services of many soldiers, and played such 
an important part in the conquest of Mexico 
that one of the historians makes special and 
loving mention of every one of the sixteen 
secured by Cortes for this enterprise. 

The fleet assembled by Cortes in the since 
34 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

famous harbor of Havana consisted of eleven 
vessels, more than half of which were open 
brigantines or caravels, and the largest did 
not exceed one hundred tons' capacity. 

The artillery consisted of ten brass guns 
of the heaviest caliber then known, and four 
falconets, or small pieces, for which there was 
an abundant supply of ammunition. 

Enlisted in the expedition, finally, were no 
sailors and 553 soldiers, of which number only 
16 were cavalry, 13 arquebusiers or musket- 
eers, and 32 cross-bowmen, most of the men 
being armed merely with sword, lance, and 
shield or buckler. 

Velasquez was still persistent in his in- 
tention of having Cortes superseded, as was 
shown by an order which arrived while the 
fleet was in Havana, commanding the al- 
calde, Pedro Barba, to arrest and send him 
to Santiago without fail. But, whatever may 
have caused the governor's change of atti- 
tude towards one whom he had already 
commissioned captain - general of the ar- 
mada, nobody could be found rash enough 
to attempt to enforce the order; for by this 
time the best men of the island were with 
Cortes, either bodily or in spirit 'and inten- 
tion. 

35 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Crafty Cortes had won, after all, the first 
skirmish in the battle royal between himself 
and Velasquez, who never again set eyes on 
any vessel of that noble fleet, nor ever re- 
couped himself for the expense he had as- 
sumed. Through having kept his temper, 
with his face set steadily in the direction he 
wished to go, Hernando Cortes finally found 
himself clear of Cuba and afloat on the high 
seas, with favoring gales and currents waft- 
ing him towards Mexico. 

Following the course of Grijalva, rather 
than that of Cordova, his first landfall was 
the island of Cozumel, a few miles distant 
from the northeast coast of Yucatan, at 
which he arrived about February 20th. Just 
two years had elapsed since Cordova, the 
pioneer in Mexican discovery, had set sail 
from Santiago, and ten months since sturdy 
Grijalva had landed at Cozumel. These two 
had done little more than point the way for 
the real conqueror of the then unknown 
country of Mexico, who was now afloat with 
an armament more than double the size of 
both fleets that had preceded him. Land- 
ing his men on a beach backed by a dense 
forest, from which came gales of spicy odors, 
Cort6s reviewed and harangued them, set- 
36 



CORTES SETS OUT FOR MEXICO 

ting forth the objects of the expedition as 
plainly as he could, and waxing eloquent over 
the gains and glory that were to be theirs in 
coming contests with the infidels. 

It is doubtful, however, if he made the 
speech which some historians have put in his 
mouth, and which rolls trippingly across their 
pages, as his eloquence was of the sort that 
appeals by action rather than by sounding 
words. The soldiers knew what they were 
there for : to fight, and to fight hard, for gold 
— all they could get, by whatever means — 
and incidentally for glory, though the halo 
of "glory" had long since dimmed in the 
vision of the Spanish conqueror. Some few 
were enthusiasts, like Cortes; some were 
fanatics, like his chaplain, Olmeda ; but most 
of them blindly followed their leader. 



IV 

THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 
1519 

IN supreme command at last, with no one 
to thwart or repress him, Captain-General 
Cortes (as one of his soldiers says) ''began to 
take command in earnest, and to show the 
mettle that was in him." One of the vessels, 
in charge of Alvarado, had arrived at Cozu- 
mel ahead of the flag-ship, and he who after- 
wards committed the terrible massacre of 
Aztec nobles in Montezuma's capital gave 
evidence as to his real character by landing 
and pillaging the temples of a town. 

When Cortes arrived, he first placed the 
pilot of the vessel in irons for deserting the 
fleet, and then called up Alvarado and rep- 
rimanded him for his imprudence, telling 
him that he should rather have acquired the 
friendship of the natives, upon whom, or 
upon others like them, the Spaniards were 
to depend for success in their endeavors. It 
38 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

was a question of policy merely, not of hu- 
manity, for Cortes himself was afterwards 
guilty of the grossest cruelties towards the 
natives. Still, what he could do with impu- 
nity was not to be tolerated in a subordi- 
nate. 

In the ''Instructions," already alluded to, 
and which are remarkable for their wisdom 
and clarity, the following clause occurred: 
" You will keep along the coast of the island 
[as it was then thought to be] of Yucatan, 
where are six Christians in the power of some 
chiefs, who are known to Alelchor Indio, who 
goes with you [as interpreter]. Treat said 
Melchor Indio kindly, in order that he may 
remain with you and serve you faithfully." 

One of the very first acts of Cortes, after 
landing at Cozumel, goes to show that he 
began by following out these instructions to 
the letter. After setting free Alvarado's 
captives, and restoring to the temples the 
ornaments of which they had been despoiled 
(but which he soon after acquired, in ex- 
change for worthless baubles) , he set himself 
to solving two mysteries which confronted 
him at the outset. 

The first mystery was that among other 
strange symbols sacred in the estimation of 
4 39 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the natives was a figure of the cross, carved 
in stone and set up in a court of their chief 
temple. Whence they derived the concep- 
tion of this symbol is almost as much a mys- 
tery to-day as it was four centuries ago ; but 
the priests who accompanied Cortes on the 
expedition explained it away by assuming 
that St. Thomas had visited the country in 
his wanderings. The scientists of the pres- 
ent day, however, conjecture that it was the 
symbol of the rain - god of the Mayas and 
Mexicans. 

The second mystery was this: Two years 
before the arrival of Cortes on the coast of 
Yucatan the Indians of Campeche had ac- 
costed the soldiers of Cordova with the query, 
"Castilian? Castilian?" at the same time 
pointing to the east. Again at Cozumel the 
natives repeated this word, and finally it was 
disclosed that there were two Spanish pris- 
oners (whom rumor had exaggerated into 
six) held by a Maya chieftain in the depths 
of Yucatan. Some Indian traders offered 
to take a message to them, and Cortes forth- 
with wrote: 

"Gentlemen and Brothers, — Here in Cozu- 
mel I have been informed that you have been de- 
tained by a cacique, and I request as a favor that 
40 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

you will join me without delay. I send a boat and 
soldiers, with whatever is necessary for your ran- 
som, with orders to wait eight days ; but come with 
all despatch to me, from whom you shall receive 
every assistance and protection." 

The native traders were faithful to the trust 
reposed in them, and within two days after 
the main-land had been reached the letter 
was in the hands of the captives. One of 
them, named Alonzo de Guerrero, had mar- 
ried an Indian woman, whom he refused to 
leave, saying to his comrade, '*Lo, I have 
three sons. I am a cacique and a war-chief. 
My face is tattooed, my ears and nose are 
bored. What would those Spaniards think 
of me? But, comrade, behold these three 
beautiful sons of mine! Give them, I be- 
seech thee, some of those glass beads, and 
say that my brother sent them as a present 
to me from my own country." 

Another reason for rejecting the proffer 
was that he had commanded the Indians in 
the battle which had been so disastrous to 
Cordova, and he rightly feared the vengeance 
of Cortes, who, when he heard of it, greatly 
desired to get him in his hands. 

His companion, however, Jeronimo de 
Aguilar, eagerly embraced the opportunity 
41 



HERNANDO CORTES 

for rejoining his countrymen, from whom he 
had been separated seven years. Having 
secured his master's permission, he hastened 
to the coast, crossed the channel in a canoe, 
and appeared at Cozumel. Cortes, once he 
recognized Aguilar (who, being nearly naked 
and as brown as an Indian, much resembled 
one), embraced him fervently and ordered 
him clothed and treated with distinction. 
He had been so long with the Indians that 
he had nearly lost his native speech; but he 
carried with him the remnants of a book of 
prayers, tied in a ragged bundle at his waist, 
and kept repeating, as though fearful of for- 
getting the few Spanish words he remember- 
ed, "Dios [God], Santa Maria, and Sevilla.'* 
He soon recovered his lost language, and, as 
he also spoke the Maya (or native tongue of 
Yucatan), he proved the greatest acquisition 
the expedition had received. 

Having put his armament in order, and 
having forcibly "converted" the natives of 
Cozumel (by rolling their idols down the tem- 
ple steps and placing an image of the Holy 
Virgin and a crucifix in their stead), Cortes 
sailed on his course again. He had thus far 
faithfully followed the governor's written in- 
structions, and, above all, showed his deter- 
42 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

mination to enforce clause fourteen of those 
instructions, which read: ''Take great care 
to instruct the natives in the true faith, as 
this is the principal reason why their High- 
nesses permit these discoveries." 

We will follow him now as, early in March, 
1 5 19, he sailed along the north and west coast 
of Yucatan, unaware of the ruins of ancient 
cities and remains of a wonderful civilization 
within the borders of that peninsula. Cen- 
turies were to pass before those walls of 
sculptured hieroglyphs contained in Chic hen, 
Itza, Uxmal, Mayapan (more than half a hun- 
dred ruined cities in all) were to yield their 
rich treasures to the archaeologist. Cortes 
and his men got a glimpse of what the Ind- 
ian civilization was at Cozumel and Isla 
Mujeres, on the coast of Yucatan, but they 
knew not what it meant, nor cared. Gold 
was the object of their search — gold, and 
spoils of other sort, as well as the conquest 
of the heathen - dwellers in that unknown 
land. 

It may not have been the captain-gener- 
al's intention to attack the people of Tabas- 
co; but as some of the Indians shot their 
arrows at the approaching boats through the 
leafy screens afforded by the mangroves, and 
43 



HERNANDO CORTES 

others shouted defiance at the Spaniards 
from the banks of shallow streams, where 
they were gathered, evidently with hostile 
intent, he could not resist landing and giv- 
ing them a lesson. 

He held a hearty contempt for Indians, 
bred in his years of dealings with the mild- 
mannered natives of the islands ; but he was 
to learn that they were not all alike. The 
Indians, also, were to find that they had now 
a man to deal with far different from Cor- 
dova and Grijalva, a man of ''blood and 
iron," who brooked no opposition, who rode 
rough-shod over all who stood in his way. 

It was not to be expected that Hernando 
Cortes would suffer those same Tabascans 
who had received Grijalva so hospitably to 
hurl insults at him and his men, instead of 
bestowing presents. But it seems that they 
had been reproached with cowardice by 
their neighbors of Champoton, and also 
threatened by the emissaries of Montezuma, 
and this accounted for their change of atti- 
tude towards the Spaniards. This was not 
then known to Cortes, but he resolved to 
punish them, and, that it might be done in 
a ''strictly justifiable manner," as the old 
historian quaintly states it, he ordered Diego 
44 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

de Godoy, the royal notary, to read a proc- 
lamation to this effect: that the Spaniards 
merely desired to land for wood and water, 
to secure the submission of the natives to 
their sovereign and the prompt acceptance 
of their religion. 

This proclamation was one that had been 
used many times before, for it had been 
formulated by learned men at court and 
given to all the conquerors. Setting aside, 
however, the fact that the natives might not 
be disposed to accept, off-hand, a new relig- 
ion and new gods, and profess allegiance to 
a king of whom they had never heard before, 
another objection was that it was read in 
Spanish (a language they did not understand) 
and amid the deafening din of horns and 
trumpets. 

Then, seeing that the stupid natives nei- 
ther respected the king's command nor the 
proffers of the priests, Cortes gave the bat- 
tle-cry (which had been so often heard in 
conflicts between the Spaniards and the 
Moors), "Santiago, and at them!" The 
fight began in earnest, for the Indians dis- 
puted every foot the Spaniards advanced, 
first on the river-bank, then on a plain ad- 
jacent, and it was not till Cortes called out 
45 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the cavalry and ordered up the artillery that 
the assembled thousands began to yield. 

The fighting began in the afternoon and 
was continued at dawn of the following day. 
Great guns from the vessels were landed, 
and their thunderous roar drowned the ter- 
rific shouts of the Indians, who were amazed, 
almost stupefied, at the noise and the terri- 
ble carnage. But they bravely stood their 
ground, ever filling the gaps made in their 
ranks by the plunging cannon-balls, and 
throwing dust and straw into the air to con- 
ceal their losses. 

They withstood the cannon, strange and 
terrible as they appeared to them; but the 
prancing horses struck terror to their hearts. 
When they appeared, the Indians, to the 
estimated number of 30,000 or 40,000, had 
gathered on a great plain behind their town, 
which had been occupied by the infantry. 
While the arquebusiers and bowmen engaged 
them in front, Cortes with a few choice spirits 
made a detour and came upon the enemy in 
the rear. 

Let us remember that this was the first 

sight the natives ever had of horses — that 

this was the first cavalry charge in Mexico. 

When, therefore, they saw those dreadful 

46 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

apparitions, of four-footed beasts guided by 
armor - clad warriors, which trampled and 
crushed them underfoot, they fled in wild 
dismay. They thought man and beast one 
and the same creature, and were as aston- 
ished as terrified, as if we of the present day 
should behold some antediluvian monster 
rushing forth to devour and destroy. 

It is hardly too much to say that all the 
soldiers in the army of invasion fought like 
tigers, and that Hernando Cortes himself 
proved a leader worthy a greater, better 
cause. He lost a sandal at the outset, when 
mired on the river-bank, but he withdrew his 
foot and pressed gallantly on, despite the 
fierce cries ''Al Calchioni!" ("Strike at the 
captain!") resounding from every side and 
a perfect avalanche of barbaric missiles, ar- 
rows, javelins, and spears which came down 
upon his helm and corselet. 

Victory was won at last, at a cost to the 
Spaniards of a hundred soldiers wounded 
and a few killed, but to the enemy of at least 
looo slain. The Indians could do nothing 
as against these soldiers clad in armor which 
their weapons could not penetrate, before 
those charges of ponderous beasts and the 
death-dealing cannon. 
47 



HERNANDO CORTES 

After the victors had dressed their wounds 
with the fat of the dead Indians found on the 
field, they were assembled in the town by 
the river, and Cortes, making three cuts with 
his sword in a great ceiha (silk-cotton-tree), 
proclaimed possession of the country in the 
name of his sovereigns, and ordered the royal 
notary to record the fact. He had made a 
landing in that hitherto unconquered coun- 
try ; he and his men had met and overcome 
the enemy; they could not, would not, re- 
treat, but must now push on to further bat- 
tles and victories. 

The Indian hosts had melted away; but 
the next day an embassy appeared, with 
presents of the country's products, and fol- 
lowed by a train of twenty female slaves, 
for Cortes and his officers. They humbly 
begged permission to bury their dead, before 
the wild beasts should devour them, and 
their caciques tendered their submission to 
the great conqueror. Cortes assured them 
that he entertained no ill-will, and if they 
would become vassals of the Spanish king 
they might live in peace where they were. 
Religious services were held, and the female 
slaves were baptized, after the priest had in- 
structed, in the faith of the conquerors, 
48 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

these "first of Christian converts in New 
Spain." 

The results of that victory were greater 
than were at first known, for among the 
first-fruits of it were the Indian slaves, one 
of whom indeed proved a pearl of price. 
After the departure from Tabasco, and when 
off the Mexican coast, a canoe filled with 
Indians came out to the flag-ship. These 
Indians were Aztecs, whose speech no one in 
the fleet could understand. The only per- 
son who might have served as interpreter 
was Melchor Indio, who had been made cap- 
tive by Grijalva, and had come with Cortes, 
as narrated. But Melchor Indio had run 
away at Tabasco, leaving his Spanish gar- 
ments hanging on a tree ; and as Aguilar, the 
rescued Spaniard, understood only his own 
language and that of Yucatan, he could not 
serve on this occasion. Then it was told 
Cortes that one of the Tabascan women 
could speak both the Aztec and the Maya of 
Yucatan, and upon being summoned she 
proved uncommonly capable, bright, and in- 
telligent. 

It appears that she had been born a prin- 
cess, the daughter of a cacique, in the prov- 
ince of Coatzacoalcos. Her father had been 
49 



HERNANDO CORTES 

killed while she was a babe. Her mother, 
marrying again, and desiring the cacique- 
ship for her son by the second union, sought 
to get rid of the daughter by selling her to 
some traders as a slave. In this manner the 
Indian princess had come into the possession 
of a certain cacique of Tabasco, by whom she 
was given to Cortes. She was unusually at- 
tractive in appearance, of noble bearing, de- 
spite her fallen state, and a natural linguist. 

Owing to her acquaintance with the Aztec 
language, as well as with the habits and cus- 
toms of the Mexicans, and to her great nat- 
ural sagacity (which served the Spaniards at 
many a critical moment), she aided greatly 
in the conquest of the country of her birth, 
and became a personage of importance. 
This princess of Tabasco was known to the 
natives as Malinche, and from her being his 
associate Cortes was called Malintzm, or 
Malinche 's lord and master; but the Span- 
iards named her Marina. 

"Dona Marina," then, the enslaved prin- 
cess of Tabasco, leaped at a bound into 
prominence when it became known that she 
could speak the Aztec tongue, for she was 
the only person in all that company of more 
than 600 who could do so. So she trans- 
50 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF TABASCO 

lated what the Aztecs said into Maya, and 
Aguilar rendered it into Spanish, by which 
process it became known to Cortes and the 
rest. Thus for a time two interpreters and 
three languages were used in the intercourse 
between the Spaniards and the Mexicans. 
But it did not take long for the quick-witted 
Malinche to learn sufficient Spanish to serve 
all purposes, and she then became the sole 
medium of communication between the 
Aztecs and the invaders of their country. 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT's LAND 
1519 

CORTES left the river Grijalva, or Ta- 
basco, on Palm Sunday, with the ves- 
sels of his fleet bedecked with leafy banners 
emblematical of the holy day. All his com- 
pany were in high spirits, and as they passed 
along the curving shores of the great gulf 
those who had been with Grijalva pointed 
out the various objects of interest, such as 
the great river Guacacualco and the lofty 
mountains of the interior, their summits 
white with snow. 

Thus sailing serenely along, with palm- 
leaves aloft, as a promise of peace, the fleet 
left behind it the ravaged region where so 
lately war had held high carnival, and on 
Holy Thursday, 15 19, arrived at the port 
discovered by Grijalva and named by him 
San Juan de Ulua. The *'San Juan" was 
a modest reference to his own name (which 
52 



HERNANDO CORTES 

was Juan, or John), and "Ulua" referred to 
the native name for Mexico, as nearly as it 
could be rendered into Spanish. 

No sooner had the fleet cast anchor in the 
glassy waters of the bay, under shelter of the 
Isla de los Sacrificios, than a canoe darted 
out from shore and approached the flag-ship. 
Its passengers went on board and offered 
the captain-general gifts of fruits, flowers, 
and golden ornaments. They proved to be 
men of high rank in Montezuma's service; 
one of them, Teuhtlile, being the military gov- 
ernor of the province adjacent to the gulf. 
They had come to inquire of the strangers 
their errand and intentions, having watched 
for them ever since the departure of Grijalva. 

Conversation at first was carried on by 
signs ; but when it was discovered that Dofia 
Marina knew their language, and also the 
Maya, which Aguilar could speak, it was 
conducted through the two interpreters. 
After making clear to the ambassadors from 
Montezuma that he had come to see the 
ruler of the country, or, at all events, the 
governor of the province, Cortes dismissed 
them, with some trifling presents in return 
for the gold they had brought. 

The entire force was disembarked the next 
54 



IN THE PLUMED SpRPENT'S LAND 

day upon a beach bordering the plain on 
which was subsequently erected "la Villa 
Rica de la Vera Cruz," or the Rich City of 
the True Cross. Two days later, shortly 
before noon of the succeeding Easter Sun- 
day, Montezuma's governor, Teuhtlile, reap- 
peared, accompanied by an immense throng 
bearing loads of provisions consisting of 
fish, fowl, and fruits of the country, besides 
bales of cotton cloth and gold. On the day 
previous a multitude of natives had been 
sent by him to construct shelters for the 
soldiers on the barren sand-hills bordering 
the shore, and here Cortes received him with 
great ceremony. 

The Aztec noble was not to be outdone in 
politeness, even by the courteous Spaniards, 
and returned their salutations with a grace 
that showed acquaintance with the usages 
of refined society. 

A collation followed, at which Governor 
Teuhtlile behaved so admirably as to evoke 
favorable comment from his hosts. After 
the repast was over the interpreters were 
called in, and the governor inquired, as be- 
fore, as to the object of the white strangers 
in visiting his shores. 

Cortes replied that he had come to open 
' 55 



HERNANDO CORTES 

communication between his sovereign, the 
mighty Don Carlos of Spain, and the ruler of 
Mexico, to whom, by-t he-way, he was anxious 
to send an embassy without further delay. 

"What!" asked the Aztec noble, in amaze- 
ment; "you are only just arrived, and yet 
you talk of seeing our great monarch, the 
peerless Montezuma? Impossible! — at least 
for the present ; but accept these gifts which 
he sends you. There will be time to talk of 
other things afterwards . ' ' 

Speaking thus, he ordered his slaves to 
advance and lay at the feet of his guest the 
burdens they had brought, consisting of ten 
bales of cotton mantles, specimens of the 
wonderful plumaje, or native feather-work, 
and a basketful of golden ornaments ingen- 
iously wrought. It was a gift well worthy 
acceptance by royalty itself; but in return 
Cortes presented the governor with an old 
arm-chair, carved and painted, a crimson 
cap, a quantity of cheap glass beads, and 
a brass medal with an effigy on it of St. 
George killing the mythical dragon. To this 
paltry present he added a gilded helmet 
which Teuhtlile had seen on the head of a 
soldier and much admired, remarking that 
it resembled one worn by their war-god. 
S6 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT'S LAND 

Meanness could go no further when Cort6s 
remarked, as he presented the helmet, that 
he would be greatly pleased if it could be 
returned to him filled with gold. Then he 
explained, in a shamefaced way, that the 
Spaniards were afflicted with a disease of 
the heart which only gold could cure. 

The ambassador departed for the Aztec 
capital, leaving another noble to supply the 
Spanish army with provisions during his ab- 
sence. Eight days later he returned at the 
head of a long procession of Indians, some 
of whom bore him and other officials in ham- 
mocks on their shoulders, while others, to 
the number of more than a hundred, were 
staggering beneath great burdens of gifts. 

That he had been able to perform the jour- 
ney to the capital and return, not much less 
than 400 miles, in the time mentioned, seems 
incredible; but the statement is made on 
good authority. It is even related that 
King Montezuma was wont to receive fresh 
fish from the gulf daily, by means of relays 
of swift couriers; but this may well be 
doubted. 

The Spaniards considered themselves rich- 
ly rewarded for their labors when permitted 
to gaze upon the presents sent by Monte- 
57 



HERNANDO CORTES 

zuma, which were displayed by Teuhtlile's 
attendants on mats spread on the sands. 
Wonders like these they had never beheld 
before. First (and this was the most daz- 
zling of all) , was a great disk of solid gold, 
as big as a wagon-wheel. This was said to 
be a symbol of the sun, and was worth $200,- 
000. Another disk, but of silver, represent- 
ed the moon — of lesser value, but equally 
wonderful as to its workmanship. There 
were also thirty golden ducks, as many deer, 
and other animals known to the Mexicans; 
collars, gorgets, helmets, cuirasses, and plumes 
— all of gold, most exquisitely wrought. Be- 
sides these there were many bales of cotton 
garments, embroidered mantles, and the pe- 
culiarly valuable plumaje. 

There, too, was the veritable helmet loan- 
ed by Cortes, and which, after having been 
examined and admired by Montezuma, had 
been returned filled with golden grains, to 
the value of 3000 crowns. It was a regal 
present, truly, surpassing in value anything 
the Spaniards had yet received from the New 
World aborigines since America had become 
known through the voyages of Columbus. In 
return for this glorious gift, what sent Cortes 
to the great Montezuma ? A grandiloquent 
58 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT'S LAND 

message, as on the former occasion; three 
Holland shirts, a gilded goblet, and some 
worthless baubles, which even a Spanish beg- 
gar would have rejected with scorn. 

It would have been far better to have sent 
merely his thanks, for by this beggarly present 
(as the sequel will show) was the poverty and 
meanness of the Spaniards made known to 
Montezuma. He had sent word to Cortes, 
as commander of the invading army, that 
he would not be permitted to visit the capital 
city, and must depart from the country at 
once. This message, as we know, was not 
in accord with the inclinations of Cortes, and 
a second time he represented to Teuhtlile his 
desire for appearing in person before the 
king or emperor. The best that noble could 
do was to promise to transmit his request, 
which he did. 

Ten days later, another long procession of 
Indians came winding down among the sand 
dunes, bearing a third and last present for 
the commander, to the value of more than 
3000 ounces of gold. In addition to the 
gold, Montezuma sent four precious stones, 
called by the Aztecs chalchiuitls , or native 
emeralds. In the estimation of the Mexicans 
each one was worth a back-load of gold ; but 
59 



HERNANDO CORTES 

these gems were found to have but little 
value in the marts of Europe. Still, these 
stones, as well as the gold and. feather-work, 
denoted the great and generous nature which 
had inspired the gift, and aroused in the 
breasts of the Spaniards a burning desire to 
see the donor. 

With this last gift came the emperor's 
final answer, denying the request of the Span- 
iards to advance into the country, and de- 
siring them to leave, now that they had re- 
ceived the gold they sought. In emphasis 
of this message, which was in its nature a 
command, all the natives suddenly withdrew 
from the Spanish camp, and the next morn- 
ing Cort6s and his crew found themselves 
without supplies, except such as they had 
brought, consisting of mouldy cassava bread, 
decayed meats, and a few fish which the 
sailors had caught from the vessels. 

The situation was serious ; but at any time, 
it would seem, the Spaniards could sail for 
Cuba, even on short rations, and there al- 
ready existed quite a faction loud in de- 
mands for immediate retreat. All the Span- 
iards had gone into raptures over the gifts, 
and gloated over the rich prize, in anticipa- 
tion of their individual shares; but these 
60 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT'S LAND 

proofs of Mexico's vast wealth produced va- 
rious effects upon different minds. Most of 
the soldiers argued that such an empire (as 
Cortes had broadly hinted) would be a good- 
ly one to conquer and despoil ; but there were 
others, especially the friends of Velasquez, 
who saw in this very wealth that had been 
poured out before them an indication of re- 
sources betokening such a pov/er of resistance 
as could not be overcome. 

In order to understand the exaggerated 
importance which the Mexicans had attached 
to the coming of Cortes and his band, it will 
be necessary to interrupt the narrative of 
events in sequence and revert to the hap- 
penings of a previous time. When Governor 
Teuhtlile and his attendants first saluted 
Cortes, they bowed before him, touching their 
hands to the ground and kissing them, at the 
same time fumigating the strangers with in- 
cense. This was the customary salutation 
of ambassadors, as practised by the Mexicans, 
who addressed the strangers as tetuctin — 
lords, or nobles — which the interpreters 
wrongly translated as teules, or deities. In 
point of fact, as some have thought, the 
Mexicans at first really believed the Span- 
iards were the representatives of a deity they 
6i 



HERNANDO CORTES 

had long expected to visit their coasts — o. 
mythical personage who figured in their tra- 
ditions as Quetzalcoatl, or the God of Air. 

For several years previous to the arrival 
of the Spaniards off the eastern coast of 
Mexico (if we may believe native traditions) 
the Mexicans, or Aztecs, had been vexed by 
startling portents, such as earthquakes, vol- 
canic eruptions, and an irruption of the 
waters of Lake Tezcoco into the city of 
Mexico. In or about the year 1510, a tur- 
ret of their great temple took fire and burned 
for many days without any visible cause. 
Finally a vast sheet of fire appeared in the 
eastern sky, accompanied by mysterious 
murmurings of the air. 

The Aztec priests gave out that their chief 
deity, Huitzilopochtli, was angered, and to 
appease him the temple-pyramid on which 
he stood was covered from base to summit 
with rare feathers and plates of gold. His 
altars, too, were drenched with the blood of 
human victims; but their lives went out in 
vain, for the portents continued. 

At last it was suggested that it was not the 
bloody war -god, but the peaceful Quetzal- 
coatl, that should be propitiated. The 
Plumed Serpent, as the latter was called, did 
62 




HUITZILOPOCHTLI. AZTEC GOD OF WAR 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT'S LAND 

not demand human sacrifices, but only, offer- 
ings of fruits and flowers. He was a god of 
the ancient Toltecs, who inhabited the table- 
land of Mexico before the Aztecs came down 
from the north. His palaces were of silver, 
gold, and precious stones, and it was he who 
had taught the people the cutting of gems, 
casting of metals, and the wonderful feather- 
work. In his time (tradition said), a single 
ear of corn was a load for a man, pumpkins 
were six feet in circtmiference, gourds were 
as long as one's arm, while cotton grew on 
its stalks all colored and ready for weav- 
ing. 

Driven from Mexico by the cruel Tezcatli- 
poca, the Plumed Serpent departed in his great 
canoe hewn from a silk-cotton-tree, wafted 
by fragrant gales to the eastward. After 
tarrying awhile in Tabasco and Coatzacoal- 
cos, he went to Yucatan, where he was wor- 
shipped under the name of Kukulcan. On 
the front wall of the "Nun's House," in the 
ruined city of Uxmal, you may still find an 
effigy of the " Feathered Serpent" more than 
one hundred feet in length. It was carved 
many centuries ago, and whether it was in- 
tended as a " nature symbol " merely, or as a 
reminder of Quetzalcoatl's promise to return, 
63 



HERNANDO CORTES 

at least the effigy has been there longer than 
the memory of mankind can recall. 

Quetzalcoatl had promised, on his depart- 
ure from Tula and Cholula, that he would 
sometime return by the route by which he 
had departed, and through all the chang- 
ing centuries the Mayas and Mexicans had 
looked for him. When, therefore, news of 
the Spaniards' advent reached Aztlan, the 
Mexican capital, the prophecy of Quetzalcoatl 
was recalled. He was white and bearded — 
so were the strangers ; he had departed in a 
great canoe — so came the strangers, in their 
ships with sails. 

The Mexican officials who had met Grijal- 
va at Tabasco, and those who had received 
Cortes at San Juan de Ulua, had with them 
expert artists, or picture-writers, whom they 
set at work depicting every detail of the ar- 
maments. So faithfully did they represent 
the bearded men and their winged ships that 
the agitated Montezuma, when he saw these 
pictures of Grijalva's company, was con- 
vinced that the Plumed Serpent had really 
arrived. So an embassy with rich gifts was 
sent to the coast, but too late to meet Gri- 
jalva, who had then sailed for Panuco, whence 
he returned directly to Cuba. 
64 



IN THE PLUMED SERPENT'S LAND 

When the embassy returned with the tid- 
ings to Anahuac, Montezuma was perplexed ; 
but he caused sentinels to be posted along 
the coast, with swift runners at hand ready 
to bring him the first information respect- 
ing the coming of Quetzalcoatl, in order that 
he might send him gifts and perhaps offer 
homage. 

These, then, were the conditions existing 
at the time Cortes appeared on the coast. 
The gifts that had been made ready for Gri- 
jalva were sent to his successor, and the fact 
that they were already prepared will explain 
the promptness with which they reached him. 

Noting with what fidelity the native paint- 
ers transferred the various scenes to ''can- 
vas," and desiring to impress the emperor 
with his power, Cortes ordered out the caval- 
ry on the day of the governor's first visit, 
and the horses manoeuvred on the sands. 
The Aztec artists were greatly impressed, of 
course ; but they had scarcely recovered from 
their stupor of astonishment and regained 
the use of their hands when Cortes caused 
the artillery to be discharged. Then the 
roar of the cannon and the crashing of the 
great balls through the trees completed their 
consternation. 

6S 



HERNANDO CORTES 

It was some time before they could com- 
plete their work, for they not only had to 
calm their nerves, but, in order to transfer 
these new things to their sheets of prepared 
agave paper, they must invent new symbols, 
both for the man-mounted beasts and the 
* ' smoke-spitting thunder-weapons . ' ' 

When these wonderful "picture-writings" 
reached the great Montezuma, he and his 
court experienced a new sensation. If they 
had gone to him without any verbal descrip- 
tion by his subjects present at the scenes 
depicted, doubtless the Aztec monarch might 
have been convinced that the Plumed Ser- 
pent and his suite had actually landed on his 
shores. But, Teuhtlile and his staff had de- 
tails to supply, as to the gross and carnal 
natures of these new arrivals, which abso- 
lutely precluded the belief that they were, 
or could be, connected with the great and 
good " God of Air." They had shown them- 
selves, in truth, chiefly devoted to one deity, 
whom they would go any length to serve, and 
that was the God of Gold. 



VI 

AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 
I519 

CORTES had reason for considering him- 
self a favored child of fortune. With 
a large fleet, and soldiers so far devoted to 
his cause, he had made admirable progress. 
At Cozumel he had benefited by the arrival 
of Aguilar, whose services as interpreter were 
only surpassed by those of Dona Marina, the 
two together affording means of communi- 
cating with the Mexicans which could not 
have been gained without them. Again, fol- 
lowing right after Grijalva, who had created 
such a favorable impression upon Monte- 
zuma and the Mexicans, he received favors 
intended for him, and made the most of his 
prestige. 

But for the grave mistakes he made, Cortes 

might have marched into the heart of Mexico 

without finding any considerable opposition. 

But he did not fulfil Montezuma's ideal as to 

67 



HERNANDO CORTES 

what the leader of the mysterious strangers 
should have been, in the first place; in the 
second (as Teuhtlile reasoned), if he and his 
companions indeed suffered from a " disease 
of the heart" which could be cured only by 
gold, and had no higher ambitions than the 
gathering of it, they could not possibly be the 
men for whom the Mexicans were looking so 
anxiously and hopefully. 

The Spanish leader's third and perhaps 
his greatest mistake arose from his forcible 
''conversion" of the natives. He had cast 
down the idols of Cozumel, leaving the Ind- 
ians there with the cross and an image of 
the Virgin Mary as substitutes. He had 
forced the Tabascans to bow before these 
same objects, after slaughtering thousands 
of their warriors and while yet nursing dread- 
ful wounds received in defence of their relig- 
ion and their homes. So now, reviewing the 
"good work" he had accomplished in those 
instances, when an occasion came for speak- 
ing to the Mexicans on the subject, he prompt- 
ly embraced it. This occasion came on the 
return of Teuhtlile from his last visit to 
Montezuma. As he was conversing with 
Cortes in the calm of evening-time, when all 
nature was at rest, and a benison of peace 
68 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

extended over earth and sea, the bell for ves- 
pers sounded on board ship, and all the Span- 
iards present fell upon their knees in prayer. 

The astonished noble inquired of Marina 
the meaning of this ceremony, and she inter- 
preted the question to Cortes. He promptly 
brought forward his favorite chaplain, Father 
Olmedo, who explained at length the mys- 
teries of the Christian faith, and the cross, 
before which the Spaniards prostrated them- 
selves in adoration. He went further than 
this and declared that, inasmuch as theirs 
was the " only true faith," it was their duty, 
and also their mission, to destroy all heathen 
idols, and convert those who worshipped 
them to the Christian belief, not even except- 
ing the great monarch Montezuma. This 
statement was ardently seconded by Cortes 
himself, and, there no longer being any doubt 
in the mind of the Mexican that his cherished 
gods were to be objects of attack and the 
religion of his fathers made the subject of 
ridicule, he retired in wrath and confusion. 
The next morning (as we have seen) the Ind- 
ians who had supplied the Spaniards with 
provisions had disappeared. 

The Spaniards prepared for hostilities ; but 
no attack came, and they sullenly turned to 
60 



HERNANDO CORTES 

face their critical situation, increasingly- 
perilous the longer they stayed in Mexico. 
Cortes had to confess himself beaten in the 
game of diplomacy played between himself 
and Montezuma; but he was equal to any 
emergency when it came to managing his 
band of fretful Spaniards. When, therefore, 
it became known to him that the majority of 
his company objected to going any farther, 
and desired to return to Cuba, he gave orders 
that the fleet should be made ready for that 
purpose; but with no intention whatever 
of proceeding in any other direction than 
towards the Mexican capital. He had slyly 
sounded his soldiers, and had correctly judged 
that the larger number would not be in favor 
of retracing their steps if they were put to a 
test. And so it proved, for when it was an- 
nounced that all who desired could proceed 
to Cuba, there was a most furious outcry 
among those who either wished to found a 
colony on the coast, or to march inland and 
attempt the conquest of the country. 

They called upon Cortes in a body, and, 
after reminding him of the treatment the un- 
happy Grijalva had received at the hands of 
Governor Velasquez (having been deprived 
of his command for failing to found a colo- 
70 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

ny) , demanded to see his instructions. When 
these were produced, it was found that noth- 
ing had been said as to a settlement in the 
country, but that great stress was laid upon 
the getting of gold, extending the dominions 
of the king, and converting the heathen. The 
faction in favor of Velasquez professed to see 
in this omission a reason for their being sent 
home to Cuba, which they demanded. They 
also insisted upon a fair division of the spoils, 
after first setting aside the "royal fifth" for 
the king of Spain. 

In the name of that same sovereign, the 
soldiers desirous of remaining in Mexico de- 
manded that Cortes should stay and at once 
lay the foundation of a colony, as any other 
course, they said, would be disloyal to the 
crown. Still pretending that he desired only 
to satisfy the greater number, and protesting 
his loyalty to the king as well as to the gov- 
ernor of Cuba, Cortes yet affected to see a 
majority in favor of remaining, which was 
the course he wished to pursue. 

''The only way out of it," he said, "is to 
commence a settlement — at least on paper — 
in the name of the sovereigns, and without 
delay." So he named the officials forth- 
with, for alcaldes choosing Puertocarrero, a 
6 71 



HERNANDO CORTES 

steadfast friend of his, and Montejo, who was 
equally devoted to Velasquez. The remain- 
ing officials necessary to the organization of 
a Spanish pueblo, or town, such as the regi- 
dores, or aldermen, the treasurer, alguacilSy 
or constables, etc., were all from the ranks 
of his friends, so at the very outset the Velas- 
quez faction was in the minority. This being 
the case, it was not at all strange that, when 
Cortes later appeared before the newly es- 
tablished municipality, cap in hand, and, 
with a semblance of humility, proffered his 
resignation as captain-general of the armada, 
no time was lost in carrying out his desires. 
" Inasmuch as the governor's authority is now 
superseded by that of the magistracy,'' he re- 
marked, "and my tenure of office now ter- 
minates, I resign, etc.'' 

That was the way out of his difficulties 
with the governor : to deprive him of author- 
ity, and act henceforth in the name of the 
sovereign only. All his future acts, in fact, 
were shaped to win the favor of that sovereign 
and excuse his betrayal of Velasquez. After 
a show of deliberation the officials who had 
been appointed by Cortes nominated him 
chief -justice of the new colony, as well as 
captain-general, and thus, with civil author- 
72 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

ity now added to his military power, he was 
wellnigh invincible. 

There were those, to be sure, who de- 
nounced the entire proceeding as a conspir- 
acy against Velasquez — as in truth it was — 
and some few were so loud in their outcries 
that Cortes forthwith put them in irons, and 
sent them aboard one of the vessels as pris- 
oners. Their ardor soon cooled, in the se- 
clusion of the vessel's hold, and they were 
released, after promising to support the cause 
of Cortes — to which, by means of bribes and 
promises, the commander managed to at- 
tach most of the cavaliers, at least for a 
time. 

After losing thirty of his men by disease, 
Cortes concluded to transfer his municipal 
skeleton to another and more salubrious spot. 
He had already despatched a vessel in search 
of a better harbor than that of Vera Cruz, 
and such a place was found in Chiahuitzla, a 
few leagues to the northward. While he was 
preparing for removal to this place he was 
approached by some strange Indians from a 
city called Cempoalla, who stated that they 
were subjects of Montezuma, whose armies 
had overrun their territory and annexed it. 

They were different from the Aztecs, being 
73 



HERNANDO CORTES 

natives of the tropical lowlands — Totonacs. 
They possessed a somewhat refined civiliza- 
tion, a government and religion similar to 
those of their conquerors, and they lived in 
a large stone city, mainly, within the forest 
fringe of the tierra caliente, or hot country. 

This city, Cempoalla, which the Spaniards 
finally sighted at the end of a hot and weari- 
some march, was built of white and glisten- 
ing stone, and when one of the advance-guard 
caught a glimpse of it shining through the 
forest vegetation with a splendor all its own, 
he dashed hurriedly back to the main body, 
shouting, "Here is a city of silver!" 

Having had tangible evidence of the coun- 
try's richness in Montezuma's gifts, the sol- 
diers were ready to believe any wonderful 
tale, so they pressed forward eagerly towards 
the "silver city," in very good humor with 
themselves and also with their commander, 
grim and crafty Cortes. 

At last they met an embassy led by the 
cacique of Cempoalla, who was so fat and 
huge that he had to be borne in a litter. He 
made a speech of welcome, in which he gave 
assurance of his friendly feeling for the 
strangers, and also hinted that he and his 
people looked to them for release from the 
74 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

Mexicans' galling fetters. They were hard 
to bear, he said, because their oppressors 
drafted from the flower of the populace 
their young men and maidens, as slaves, and 
victims for their sacrifices to the war-god. 

Shrewd and far-seeing Cortes promised, of 
course, all they desired, and far more than 
they expected, for he saw in their discontent 
a prospect of gaining alHes, especially men 
for transporting his munitions on the long 
march — upon which he had already decided 
— ^to the Aztec city. 

Thus the exultant Spaniards marched 
merrily into the city of Cempoalla and were 
quartered in its public buildings. Their prog- 
ress was in the nature of a triiimphal proces- 
sion through streets lined with wondering 
Indians, and amid admiring throngs, who 
decked the soldiers and the horses of the 
cavaliers with garlands of flowers. Among 
the gifts forced upon them by the fat cacique 
there was only gold enough to indicate the 
richness of the region and the generous dis- 
position of the people, who brought their 
guests baskets of native plums, cassava bread, 
and maize. 

After a refreshing rest amid such hospi- 
table surroundings, the little army set for- 
75 



HERNANDO CORTES 

ward next morning for Chiahuitzla, accom- 
panied by the fat cacique and a retinue 
of nobles, as also by 400 of the common 
people, who, according to the custom of 
the land, served as porters. This arrange- 
ment was well liked by the weary soldiers, 
who were thus relieved from the necessity of 
hauling the cumbrous cannon and supplies. 
Some of them even divested themselves of 
their heavy armor, their arquebuses and cross- 
bows ; though when the ever-alert Cortes dis- 
covered this he ordered the soldiers to resume 
their weapons, for it was not wise to trust an 
enemy in his own country. 

Arrived at Chiahuitzla, which was situated 
above a fine harbor, on a hill naturally well 
fortified, Cortes called a conference of the 
Cempoallans, for the purpose of discussing a 
rupture of their relations with Montezuma 
and throwing off his yoke of bondage. The 
fat cacique expressed himself right valiantly 
as without reserve in favor of it; but sud- 
denly a change came over him, for a mes- 
senger arrived with the news that a band of 
Montezuma's tribute-gatherers was even then 
entering the town. The conference broke up 
in a hurry, and the cowardly Cempoallans 
slunk away as, attended by a large retinue, 
76 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

with noses held up in the air, and their atten- 
tion seemingly given to bunches of roses which 
they held in their hands, five Mexican nobles 
marched stiffly through the city streets. 

When Cortes learned from the cringing 
Totonacs that the Mexicans had come to de- 
mand victims for sacrifice, he affected the 
greatest indignation, and ordered them to 
place those proud nobles in chains. At first 
the Totonacs were horrified ; but on reflection, 
knowing that Cortes was armed with the 
powers of the thunder and the lightning, and 
that he could slay thousands at a stroke, they 
tremblingly comphed. They were amazed 
at their own audacity, knowing well that now 
they had committed the deed that would 
bring upon their heads the direst punishment 
unless protected by their new-found friends. 

This Cortes also knew, hence he had com- 
pelled them to arrest the Mexicans instead 
of having his soldiers do it. And in order 
to rivet the chains upon their necks, and to 
make it appear that the deed had been done 
without his sanction, he had the Mexicans 
brought before him, by stealth, at night, to 
whom he declared that to assure their safety 
he must have them sent aboard a vessel in the 
harbor. The Cempoallans were infuriated, 
77 



HERNANDO CORTES 

he explained, but he, Cortes, would protect 
them with men and with cannon if need 
be, for he was a friend, and would be an 
ally, of their great emperor Montezuma, to 
whom he now sent them with a message of 
peace and a proffer of assistance. With 
this he sent them ashore again, after the tu- 
mult was over, and the deluded Mexicans 
hastened to Montezuma with a statement of 
what had occurred. It was colored by such 
a relation of the Spanish commander's act of 
friendship that their sovereign soon after 
sent another embassy to Cortes with rich 
gifts, and his thanks for rescuing his officials 
from the enraged Totonacs, whom he would 
surely punish as they deserved. 

Having committed this act of basest per- 
fidy to his allies, Cortes endeavored to allay 
their just resentment by leading his soldiers 
against some neighboring tribes with whom 
they were at war. While on the march he 
gave further evidence of his "impartial sense 
of justice" by hanging a poor soldier of his 
command who had stolen a fowl from one of 
the Totonacs. He was cut down when al- 
most at his last gasp, by Pedro de Alvarado, 
who grimly remarked that they could not 
afford to lose a soldier, be he good or bad, 
78 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

when they were so few in number. But the 
lesson, as intended by the commander, was 
not lost upon the corpulent cacique, who, 
w^hen they reached his capital, begged Cortes 
and his officers to accept eight Indian dam- 
sels, whom he presented to them richly dress- 
ed, as a slight token of his high esteem. 

Mindful of his wife in Cuba and the obli- 
gations he had already incurred, Cortes was 
slow to accept this present, especially as the 
lady intended for him was almost as gross 
and unattractive as the cacique, who was her 
uncle. As usual, he concealed his real rea- 
sons, and sought an excuse in the fact that 
the maidens were not of his own faith, and 
that it was forbidden to Spaniards to inter- 
marry with idolaters. He and Father Olmedo 
improved the occasion to declaim against 
their idols, and especially their bloody sacri- 
fices of human beings, which (even though 
the Cempoallans were now^ allies of the Span- 
iards), were still continued. 

The cacique objected, saying that his gods 
had been very good to him and his people, 
on the whole, giving them rains and harvests, 
health and happiness, but that if he were 
ungrateful they would doubtless destroy him. 
He had no objection, he said, to receiving the 
79 



HERNANDO CORTES 

gods of the Spaniards, and would gladly make 
room for them in the temples ; but as for giv- 
ing up his own, it would never, never do. 

Above him, on the fiat summits of the 
teocallis (or temple-pyramids), grinned his 
hideous idols ; around him were grouped his 
horrid priests, their long, black hair matted 
with gore, their garments of cotton stained 
with human blood. Fanatic was opposed to 
fanatic, but the Spanish fanatics were the 
stronger, and of course prevailed. 

"Spaniards and brothers," said Cortes, 
addressing the assembled soldiers (who had 
been called to arms for this very purpose), 
*' we inherit from our fathers the love of our 
most holy faith. These people must abjure 
their idolatrous practices and become good 
Christians. Let us now prostrate these vile 
images, plant in their stead the cross, and 
call these heathen beneath that holy symbol 
which is inscribed upon our banner. For my 
part, I am resolved that these pagan idols 
shall be destroyed — now, this very hour, even 
if my life shall be the forfeit!" 

This impassioned speech was greeted with 

ringing cheers. Fifty soldiers sprang at once 

up the terraced sides of the pyramids, cast 

down the idols from their lofty stations and 

80 



AN ALLIANCE WITH THE TOTONACS 

broke them in pieces on the pavement. The 
cacique and the priests called upon their war- 
riors to resist. They, with their bows and 
arrows, spears and mighty war-clubs, would 
have fallen upon the Spaniards; but they 
were awed by the shining swords so menac- 
ingly brandished, by the black-mouthed can- 
non, and the flaming matchlocks, ready (as 
they knew) to vomit forth destruction and 
death. 



VII 

CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 
1519 

NO dire disaster followed the destruction 
of the idols, and the cacique was recon- 
ciled to the emblems of a new religion estab- 
lished in their stead. More than this, he 
consented to the re-employment of his priests, 
and those erstwhile pagans, their blood- 
stained garments changed for robes of white, 
cheerfully officiated in the renovated temples. 
An old soldier, with one eye and a wooden 
leg, was placed in charge of the teocallis. He 
was too lame to follow his army," his fight- 
ing days were over, so he gladly became a 
pious hermit, and his comrades left him in 
charge of the temples. 

The Totonacs accepted a change of religion 
and idols as they might have cast off an old 
garment and donned a new one. Like the 
Cozumelans and Tabascans, they were forci- 
bly converted to the new faith. They clung 
82 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

to it while the Spaniards were with them, 
then lapsed into the worship of their ancient 
deities. Cortes commanded the old soldier 
to instruct them in the making of wax can- 
dles, to be burned before the Virgin, and 
after the Indians had been treated by Father 
Olmedo to another sermon on their duties to 
religion, they were allowed to retire to their 
huts. 

Meanwhile work on the new city at the 
coast had been carried along with vigor, so 
that, while making friends and allies of the 
natives, Cortes had also established a base 
of supplies and a strong fortress as a retreat 
in emergency. This, the first settlement 
made by white men in Mexico, occupied a 
plain at the foot of a mountain about four 
leagues north of Cempoalla, and Cortes him- 
self assisted in laying the foundations, work- 
ing with his men, as he marched with them 
to battle, in the fore-front, encouraging them 
by his example. 

The soldiers had seen these preparations 
for a fixed base in the new country, some with 
exultation, others in despair. They were 
aware, by this time, of their commander's 
unyielding character, and knew that, having 
set his face towards the object of his desires, 
83 



HERNANDO CORTES 

there would be no turning back; but they 
did not even dream of the means he would 
take for preventing their departure, as Cortes 
took one step at a time and kept his own 
counsel. 

The foundations of a city having been laid 
with due ceremony (a jail and a gallows-tree 
being among the first structures erected, as 
was the Spanish custom of those times), 
Cortes next turned his attention to securing 
favor at the Spanish court. By a vessel just 
arrived at the port he received information 
that Velasquez had obtained a warrant for 
colonizing new countries, over which he was 
to exercise the power of adelantado, or su- 
preme governor. This was a serious thing 
for Cortes, as he himself desired to be made 
adelantado over Mexico (when he should have 
conquered it), and therefore must secure the 
favor of his sovereign and establish direct 
connection with Spain instead of with Cuba 
and Velasquez. The manner in which he. 
thought of doing this was by sending a vessel 
straight to Spain, laden with all the treasure 
obtained from Montezuma, together with a 
letter explaining the true nature and extent 
of his discoveries, with a request for author- 
ity to continue in his scheme of conquest. 
84 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

. By means of bribes and threats he induced 
the soldiers to part with their individual 
shares of Montezuma's treasure, setting the 
example himself by giving up the fifth which 
had been granted him by the council; and 
the whole was sent, a glorious gift, to the 
emperor. The best vessel of the fleet was 
selected, manned with fifteen sailors, and 
placed in charge of Puertocarrero and Mon- 
te jo, with the veteran Alaminos as pilot. 
This vessel, the first that ever made a direct 
voyage between Mexico and Spain, set sail 
on July 26, 1 5 19, carrying the commissioners 
and the Aztec treasure. A circular letter 
from Cortes, the council, and the common 
soldiers, stated what great things had been 
done, and the still greater yet to do, in the 
conquest of a vast empire, the resources of 
which might be inferred from the treasure 
remitted to his highness, as a pledge of their 
loyalty and devotion. 

"And we further stated," says one of that 
intrepid band, " how we were at present 450 
soldiers, surrounded by hosts of enemies, and 
ready to lay down our lives for the service 
of God and his majesty. And we supplicated 
that his majesty would be pleased not to 
bestow the government of so great and rich 
8S 



HERNANDO CORTES 

a country, which deserved to be ruled by a 
great prince or lord, on any unworthy per- 
son. In the mean time, we remained under 
the command of his majesty's faithful ser- 
vant, Cortes, whose merits we exalted to the 
skies." 

Cortes himself wrote and sent by the 
hands of Puertocarrero, the first letter of 
that remarkable series known as the ' ' Car- 
tas de Cortes,'' which historians have pro- 
nounced peerless of their kind, and which 
proved that their author, like the great 
Caesar, could handle the pen with facility, 
as well as the sword. The devoted craft 
containing this desperate venture of that 
little band, then cut off from all others of 
their race, on the coast of an unknown coun- 
try, sailed on its course for Spain. Con- 
trary to orders, she touched in at a port on 
the north coast of Cuba, whence the tidings 
were carried to Velasquez by a sailor who 
deserted the ship. The governor sent a war- 
ship to intercept her without delay, but she 
evaded capture, and after a voyage con- 
sidered short and prosperous for those days, 
arrived safely at San Lucar in October. 

A few days after the sailing of the ship for 
Spain, some soldiers and sailors, friends of 
86 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

Velasquez, seized a ship in port, intending to 
hasten to Cuba and beg the governor's as- 
sistance. Their conspiracy was betrayed to 
Cortes, who, acting with his customary 
promptness, sentenced the ringleaders to 
death, cut off both feet of the pilot, and gave 
the rest one hundred lashes each, sparing 
only one, a priest. Among those who were 
executed was the very man who, in his 
capacity of alguacil, had arrested Cortes in 
Cuba when trying to escape the clutches of 
Velasquez. 

Stern Cortes urged swift judgment upon 
the rebels; but, says an eye-witness of the 
occurrences, he sighed deeply when he came 
to ratify their sentence, exclaiming, "How 
happy is he who is not able to write, and is 
thereby prevented from signing the death- 
warrants of his fellow-men!" 

This attempt at desertion, so nearly suc- 
cessful, caused Cortes to determine upon the 
removal of such a menace to his success and 
safety as a fleet in his rear, while he himself 
might be hundreds of miles distant from his 
coastal base, and in the midst of enemies. 
After the pretence of a survey by a board of 
officers, he gave orders for the entire squad- 
ron to be sunk at its moorings. The vessels 
7 87 



HERNANDO CORTES 

were dismantled, all their removable equip- 
ment taken on shore, and then, with the sole 
f exception of one small craft, they were scut- 
tled. Thus all means of present escape from 
the country were removed, whether of friends 
of Velasquez or Cortes. 

Both soldiers and sailors were appalled at 
this desperate act. Murmurs arose that were 
only hushed when their great leader appealed 
to their pride of race, to their sense of justice, 
even remarking that he himself was the great- 
est sufferer, as two-thirds of the fleet belonged 
to him, and by destroying the ships he had 
sacrificed all his worldly possessions. It 
would seem, he said, like distrusting the valor 
of the Spanish soldier to assert that, now all 
means of retreat were cut off, his followers 
must either conquer or die ; but their reason 
would convince them that by releasing loo 
sailors the force of fighting men was greatly 
strengthened. 

A valiant veteran, Juan de Escalante, was 
left in charge of Villa Rica, with a command 
composed chiefly of the disabled men of the 
army and navy. He was commended to the 
protection of Cempoalla's cacique, who fur- 
nished Cortes with 2000 men as carriers, to- 
gether with 200 more to draw the cannon, A 
88 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

definite departure from the coast was made 
on August 1 6, 1 5 19, and the long journey to 
Anahuac was at last begun. 

Six months had passed since that gallant 
company set sail from Santiago, two-thirds 
of the time having been taken up in fruitless 
negotiations and contentions among them- 
selves. But in the end the inflexible Cortes 
had triumphed, and he now had the satis- 
faction of setting out in earnest for the Aztec 
capital, to which he had not been invited, 
but from which, in truth, he had been warn- 
ed away. 

Little recked stout Cortes that the great 
Montezuma had denied him hospitality. He 
had a message to deliver, a cause to advance. 
He was now rejoicing at the end of inaction 
and nursing hopeful anticipations of ulti- 
mate triumphs. Some of his soldiers may 
have shared their commander's sentiments; 
at all events they were overcome by his 
forceful arguments, supported as they were 
by the civil and military authority with 
which they themselves had clothed him. At 
first stupefied at the loss of their ships — their 
only means of escape from the country — then 
sullenly yielding consent to their leader's 
schemes, finally they thrilled with the en- 
89 



HERNANDO CORTES 

thusiasm born of high emprise, and shouted, 
"On to Mexico!" 

Those valiant captains, Sandoval and Al- 
varado, had made forays into all the region 
roundabout Totonac territory, compelling 
the people to acknowledge Spanish suprem- 
acy, so Cortes left no foes behind to "kindle 
a fire in the rear," and the invaders marched 
forward with confidence, though compelled 
to subsist upon the country as they went 
along. Passing through the tierra caliente, 
with its wonderful forms of tropical vegeta- 
tion, the Spaniards next entered a region 
lying at a higher altitude, where the signs of 
exuberant fertility and the softness of the 
airs made a visible impression upon their 
spirits. Finding peace and contentment 
everywhere, and relieved of their burdens by 
the 2000 Indian carriers, the soldiers swung 
merrily along, by nightfall of the first day 
reaching the aboriginal city of Jalapa. 

Jalapa is situated at a height of about 
4000 feet above the level of the sea, amid 
scenery of surpassing beauty. Grander and 
wide-spread became the views as the invad- 
ers climbed the slopes of the eastern Cordil- 
leras. Great mountains and deep barrancas 
opened to their view, above all rising splen- 
90 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

did Orizaba, the Aztec Ciltlaltepetl, or " Moun- 
tain of the Star," whose shining, snow-cover- 
ed peak had greeted them through the mists 
of the gulf as they approached the coast at 
Vera Cruz. The heated coast region was 
now far below them, and they were travers- 
ing the verdant vales and oak-crowned hills 
of Mexico's second climatic zone, the tern- 
plado, or temperate region. Beyond that 
they encountered the keen, searching winds 
of the tierra fria, the zone of cold, where their 
Indians of the hot country, especially those 
from torrid Cuba, suffered terribly from ex- 
posure, some of them falling before the blasts 
and dying in their tracks. 

When well into the tierra fria, they came 
to a place called Xocotla, containing thirteen 
temples and other large stone structures. 
Here they received definite information as 
to "what sort of a person the great Monte- 
zuma was " of whom they had heard so 
much. He was the most powerful monarch 
in the world, said the cacique of Xocotla 
province, who told them further that the 
renowned city of Mexico, Aztlan, was built 
upon an island in a lake, which was the centre 
of a vast and beautiful valley. This city was 
accessible only by canoes, or by four great 
91 



HERNANDO CORTES 

causeways of stone several miles in length, 
in which were wooden bridges that could be 
raised, thus cutting off communication with 
the main-land, as many Spaniards afterwards 
found at the cost of their lives on the night of 
their retreat from the Mexican city in the lake. 

In response to a demand that Cortes made 
for gold to send to his sovereign beyond the 
sea, the cacique answered, tauntingly : " Gold ? 
Yea, have I gold enough; but I cannot give 
it without the orders of Montezuma, my king. 
Though if he orders me, I will render up not 
only that, but all my estate, even my life it- 
self!" 

** Say est thou so ?" rejoined Cortes. '' Then 
will I soon make him order you to give it me, 
and all that you have. Moreover, I shall 
require you and all others to renounce your 
human sacrifices, cannibal feasts, and other 
abominable practices; for such is the com- 
mand of our Lord God, whom we adore and 
believe, and who, at the last, is to raise us 
up in heaven." He was moved to these re- 
marks by what he had seen in one of the 
temple courts, where were thousands of hu- 
man skulls heaped up in front of the idols. 

The Spaniards were surely in no condition 
to enforce any demands they might make, 
92 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

being greatly fatigued and wellnigh famish- 
ed. Cortes, also, was called upon at Xocotla 
to decide between two routes leading thence 
to Mexico, one being by way of Cholula and 
through territory entirely controlled by the 
Aztecs; the other via Tlascala, a small re- 
public, which for many years had main- 
tained successful opposition to the Mexicans. 
The Cholulans were the milder people, he 
was told, but treacherous and in the pay of 
Montezuma; while the Tlascalans, though 
valiant and warlike, were at peace with the 
Totonacs, who strongly advised Cortes to 
pass through their territory. 

Acting upon their advice, Cortes sent a 
letter, in which he informed the Tlascalans 
that he was on his way to Mexico and de- 
sired safe conduct through their republic, 
adding that he had freed the Totonacs from 
the yoke of Mexico and might also be of 
service to them in their wars. It was a 
crafty message, with but one defect: it was 
written in Spanish, a language which, of 
course, the Tlascalans did not understand. 
This did not matter in the eyes of Cortes, who 
sent the letter by the hands of four Cempoal- 
lans, together with gifts: a crimson cap, a 
sword, and a cross-bow. 
93 



HERNANDO CORTES 

There was no mistaking either the purport 
of the letter or the meaning of the gifts, as 
one of the Cempoallans, when arrived at the 
capital of Tlascala, addressed the senate, 
the governing body of the republic, saying: 
'' Most great and valiant chiefs, may the gods 
prosper you and grant victories over your 
enemies. The lord of Cempoalla, and all the 
tribes of the Totonacs, desire to acquaint you 
that from the East, from the direction of the 
great sea, have arrived in large ships, on the 
coasts of our country, certain bold and ad- 
venturous men, by the assistance of whom 
we have been freed from the tyrannical do- 
minion of the Mexican king." 

This was the speech (errors arising from 
mistakes made by the historians aside) as 
reported by one of the company so anxiously 
awaiting the Tlascalans' response. The four 
lords, chiefs, or caciques who composed the 
government, after long deliberation, declared 
in favor of admitting the strangers within 
their walls; but a son of one of these lords, 
young Xicotencatl, who was also commander- 
in-chief of the armies, recommended caution. 
Lord Maxicatzin, one of the nobles, having 
suggested the possibility of these men being 
messengers from Quetzalcoatl, Chief Xico- 
94 



CORTES DESTROYS HIS FLEET 

tencatl scornfully replied : " Say, rather, they 
are monsters cast up from the sea because it 
could not endure them in its waters. . . . These 
are not gods who so greedily covet gold and 
carnal pleasures ; and he wrongs the honor of 
this republic who says it can be overcome 
by a mere handful of base adventurers. . . . Let 
me have my way with them first. If they 
are mortal, the arms of the Tlascalans will 
proclaim it all around ; and if immortal, there 
will yet be time to allay their anger by homage 
and implore their mercy!" 



VIII 

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE TLASCALANS 
1519 

THE war chief's counsels prevailed, and 
he was allowed to march upon the 
strangers with his army. In this instance 
cunning and craft were opposed, and the 
astute Cortes almost met his match in the 
wily Xicotencatl, who said, as he departed, 
"If we come out victorious we will do our 
arms immortal honor; but if we are van- 
quished we will accuse the Otomies of under- 
taking war without our orders!" 

The Otomies were inferior allies of the 
Tlascalans, who dwelt on the eastern border 
of the republic, and to whom was committed 
the guarding of a narrow pass leading from 
the lowlands to the great plateau, where the 
stronger peoples resided. After waiting sev- 
eral days for the return of his ambassadors, 
Cortes ordered the army to advance. They 
had marched but a short distance when they 
96 



ENCOUNTERS WITH TLASCALANS 

found their progress arrested by an immense 
wall of hewn rocks extending between two 
mountains about six miles apart. This wall 
was nearly twenty feet high, forming a ram- 
part of defence which, if strongly guarded, 
would have been difficult to overcome. It 
had but one narrow passageway, constructed 
in such a manner that a few determined men 
could have held it against looo. 

The Spaniards crowded about its portal, 
wondering what awaited them on the other 
side. After gazing at it thoughtfully for a 
space, Cortes gave the order, ''Comrades, 
follow your standard, the holy cross, beneath 
which we shall conquer!" and himself led the 
way into Tlascalan territory. 

"On, on to Mexico!" responded the sol- 
diers. ''We are ready. God is our sup- 
port!" and they pressed forward eagerly. 

No enemy opposed them there, though 
flying detachments were seen* at a distance 
hastening to the defence of the pass. The 
Spaniards had good reason to rejoice at their 
tardiness, as, when the troop of cavalry or- 
dered to pursue them came to close quarters 
with these barbarians, they were assailed 
with such fury that they were compelled to 
fight strictly on the defensive. The savages 
97 



HERNANDO CORTES 

were expert in handling the great double- 
bladed sword called by them the maqua- 
huitl, which, though made of wood, was set 
with sharp obsidian points, and was the most 
formidable weapon the Spaniards had en- 
countered. Armed with this great broad- 
sword, the Otomies and Tlascalans pressed 
the horsemen so sorely that they might have 
been cut to pieces but for the opportune ar- 
rival of the infantry. 

Two horses were killed, each at a blow of 
the maquahuitl, and a great shout of triumph 
went up from the savage ranks. The Tlas- 
calans treated their terrible losses with con- 
tempt, notwithstanding the discharges of 
cannon, arquebuses and cross-bows, speeding 
deadly bolts, for they had proved their con- 
tention that the strangers were merely mor- 
tal. In token of this, then and there, while 
the battle raged unheeded around them, these 
savage experimenters cut the animals into 
small pieces, which were sent, post-haste, 
to every part of the republic. In the Span- 
ish camp the loss of the horses was lamented 
as beyond repair, for they were reckoned 
equal to a host of common soldiers when in 
battle with the Indians. Night alone ter- 
minated this first engagement, and the Span- 
98 



ENCOUNTERS WITH TLASCALANS 

iards encamped in a deserted village, where, 
their provisions being low, they were very 
glad to catch, kill, and devotir the native 
dogs as they sought their homes and masters. 
Cortes had good reason to dread the coming 
of the morrow, for he knew that a vast army 
was assembling to oppose him, and only 
awaiting daylight to begin the attack. Still, 
undaunted, he went among his soldiers, en- 
couraging them the best he could. 

The Spaniards slept on their weapons, and 
at daybreak next morning every man was 
ready for action. As the sun rose on that 
fateful day its first rays gilded the helms 
and illumined the banners of an army, 50,000 
strong, assembled on the plain. Against 
this vast array was opposed that little band 
of Spaniards, scarce 500 in number. 

As if to show his contempt for the enemy, 
before the second fight began, Xicotencatl 
sent to Cortes 200 baskets of cassava cakes 
and 300 turkeys. The soldiers were rejoiced 
to get these provisions, for they were nearly 
famished; but they had hardly appeased 
their hunger when the war chief hurled 2000 
of his men into the very heart of their camp. 
The gimners were driven from the artillery, 
so closely pressed the throngs of savages, 
. .... 99 



HERNANDO CORTES 

wielding their ponderous swords and lances, 
amid flights of triple-pointed darts and flint- 
tipped arrows that darkened the sky. The 
battle raged for hours; the carnage in the 
Tlascalan ranks was awful ; but all day long 
the Indians stood their ground, retiring only 
at the approach of night. How many Tlas- 
calans fell that day is not known ; but, despite 
the overwhelming odds, only two Spaniards 
were killed, though seventy were wounded. 

Next day, at dawn, the foes returned to the 
fight, preceded by flights of darts and arrows, 
with war-cries and shrill yells rending the air, 
swords and lances gleaming. They hurled 
themselves against the Spanish phalanx, but 
were repulsed again and again, leaving thou- 
sands of dead and wounded on the field. 

The war chief consulted his astrologers, 
and was told that he could not conquer the 
strangers by day, since they were ''children 
of the sun," with whose going their own 
strength waned ; consequently, his only hope 
for victory lay in a night attack. This he 
promptly made, but with most disastrous 
results, for Cortes had his cavalry in readi- 
ness, and not only repulsed the Indians, but 
pursued them by moonlight through the 
cornfields, effecting great slaughter. 

lOO 



ENCOUNTERS WITH TLASCALANS 

Xicotencatl then changed his tactics from 
open battle to covert attack. After putting 
to death his false astrologers, he sent an em- 
bassy consisting of fifty persons, with gifts 
of fruit, bread, fowls, and four old women for 
sacrifice. 

They soon learned that Cortes was no be- 
nignant teule, for, having been told by his in- 
terpreters that these men were spies sent by 
Xicotencatl to pave the way for another at- 
tack, he ordered their hands cut off, and, 
thus cruelly mutilated, sent them back to 
the chief with a message of defiance: ''Come 
by night, or come by day, you shall ever 
find me prepared for battle ; and if after two 
days you do not appear, we will seek you 
out at your post!" 

This message was sheer bravado; but it 
had its effect, for, notwithstanding the sol- 
diers all confessed their sins to the reverend 
fathers that night, expecting nothing short 
of extermination next morning, a change 
appeared in the enemies' attitude. It was 
not then known to the invaders that there 
were two parties in the Tlascalan senate: 
one for war, one for peace, or at least for 
allowing the Spaniards to pass without de- 
tention. The peace party, led by Prince 

lOI 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Maxicatzin, finally prevailed upon the others 
to consent to an embassy, accepting the 
terms which, after every battle, Cortes had 
offered them. 

The brief but bloody war was ended. A 
treaty was concluded, on the arrival at camp 
of the venerable caciques composing the 
Tlascalan senate, by which they recognized 
the great monarch beyond the sea, in whose 
name Cortes fought the heathen and won 
his victories. And that treaty was never 
broken by the Tlascalans, who kept faith with 
the Spaniards even when to do so was against 
their own interests. 

The war chief promised Cortes an endur- 
ing peace and an eternal alliance, in the 
name of his people, and was assured by him 
that he expected nothing else at that time. 
When a small present of gold and cotton 
mantles was proffered, with an apology for 
its meanness (owing to the poverty of the 
country), Cortes accepted it, he said, for the 
good-will it implied, and nothing else. He 
could appear really great at times, and 
this was one of the occasions when he 
rose above himself. It is probable that 
the hard knocks he had received were hav- 
ing their effect in forging a more liberal 

I02 



ENCOUNTERS WITH TLASCALANS 

policy than that with which he started 
out. 

All these occurrences — the battles, skir- 
mishes, embassies — had consumed more than 
three weeks. During this time the Span- 
iards had received two visits from ambas- 
sadors of Montezuma, whose fears were ex- 
cited by the reports of great victories, and 
the continual advance of the strangers tow- 
ards his capital. The first deputation bore 
presents to the value of looo crowns, and 
the second gold to the amount of 3000 ounces, 
besides hundreds of rich mantks and feather 
ornaments. 

Montezuma, still puzzled over the mission 
of the Spaniards, and yet undecided how to 
treat them, pursued the very worst policy 
he could have adopted. He sent rich pres- 
ents, yet requested them to leave the coun- 
try at once ; but every gift was an earnest of 
his enormous wealth, and a direct bribe for 
them to seek it out for their own enrichment. 

The Mexican ambassadors warned the 
Spaniards against Tlascalan wiles, caution- 
ing them to retrace their steps before it was 
too late, and by no means to trust themselves 
in their enemies' capital. But Cortes, while 
listening politely to their words, formed his 
8 103 



HERNANDO CORTES 

own resolution in secret, giving each party 
credit (he says) for more friendship towards 
him than the other. Invited to their capital 
city by the nobles, Cortes, after due delibera- 
tion, set forth for the heart of the republic he 
and his gallant men had won to their cause, 
undeterred alike by the warnings of the 
Mexicans and the multitudes of Tlascala's 
soldiery. 

They were met at the city gate by the four 
great nobles constituting the government, 
who, with every sign of affection, conducted 
them to lodgings in spacious quarters. Each 
soldier was given a pallet of nequen, or aloe 
fibre, to sleep on, there being a scarcity of 
cotton in the land — to such an extent, in- 
deed, that the nobles and their friends eager- 
ly accepted and divided among themselves 
the garments of this material which had been 
sent by Montezuma to the Spaniards. 



IX 

A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 
1519 

SEPTEMBER 23, 1519, was a day of 
triumph for the Spaniards and of fes- 
tivity for the Tlascalans, who poured forth 
from their dwellings and welcomed the con- 
querors with offerings of food and flowers. 
Banquets were given in the four different 
sections of the city controlled by their re- 
spective governors, who, the following day, 
brought to Cortes five lovely damsels, and 
besought him to choose one lady for himself 
and bestow the others upon his officers. 

This was the third time such an alliance 
had been forced upon Cortes and his friends, 
the others occurring with the Tabascans and 
the Cempoallans. The commander improved 
this occasion, as he had before, by refusing 
the proffered hostages until they should 
have been baptized and cleansed of pagan- 
ism. He also delivered an excellent dis- 
105 



HERNANDO CORTES 

course upon the monstrous features of their 
religion, especially their worship of idols and 
human sacrifices. Warmed by his discourse, 
Cortes was on the point of ordering another 
idol - smashing foray, as at Cempoalla, but 
he compromised with the chiefs when they 
set free the slaves they held in cages as sac- 
rificial victims. The Tlascalan nobles had 
the same answer to his arguments as the 
Totonacs: that their gods had been good to 
them, that they had given them victories 
over their foes, and abundant harvests. To 
destroy them would not only show them- 
selves ungrateful, but would excite distrust 
in the minds of the younger generation. 
They were willing, however, to give his God 
a place in their pantheon, being liberal in 
the extreme, and "by no means prejudiced 
against the deities of other people." The 
next day a temple was cleared and cleansed, 
an altar was erected, and the Indian maid- 
ens baptized, after which they were assigned 
to their new lords and masters. 

The visitor to historic Tlascala to-day will 
find few vestiges of the city with 40,000 in- 
habitants, described by Cortes, for the entire 
province hardly contains that number now; 
but some interesting memorials of the Span- 
106 



A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 

ish invasion are still preserved. About two 
miles distant from the city walls stands the 
church of San Estevan, which is said to 
cover the site of Xicotencatl's palace. In 
the municipal hall are portraits of the four 
nobles as they appeared before Cortes in 
1 5 19; inside an old church stands the great 
stone font from which they were baptized 
in 1520; and here, also, is preserved the veri- 
table banner carried by the Spaniards in 
Mexico. The nobles would not abjure their 
idols and their religion, by command of 
Cortes, but when he returned to Tlascala, 
after his defeat by the Aztecs, the aged 
senators, instead of upbraiding him for the 
sacrifice of their soldiery, presented them- 
selves for baptism in token of sympathy and 
friendship. 

But we can linger no longer with Cortes 
in Tlascala, where he remained twenty days, 
resting and refreshing his soldiers. Though 
the natives would have had him and his 
men make the republic their abiding-place, 
and offered him every inducement to remain, 
he was inflexibly determined to seek out 
Montezuma and enter his capital. The Aztec 
emperor had changed his policy, for, rather 
than have the Spaniards league with his 
107 



HERNANDO CORTES 

deadly enemies (as now seemed probable 
they would do), he no longer opposed their 
entrance into the valley of Mexico, but sent 
an embassy inviting them to Aztlan, with 
still more gold and merchandise to the value 
of 10,000 crowns. Cortes had long since be- 
come convinced that the Mexican king's re- 
sources were really inexhaustible, and noth- 
ing on earth should prevent him from seeing 
for himself. 

Cholula was one of Mexico's most ancient 
cities, perhaps coeval in its foundation with 
those venerable remains which are to be 
seen at Palenque, at Copan, and in Yucatan ; 
and more, it was the reputed residence of 
Quetzalcoatl, his last abiding-place before he 
left the country. He, it was said, taught 
the Toltecs the arts that had descended to 
the Cholulans of the sixteenth century, who 
excelled in the cutting of gems and the mak- 
ing of beautiful pottery and feather-work. 

This holy city of the Aztecs lay about six 
leagues distant from Tlascala, and when first 
seen by the Spaniards contained more than 
20,000 houses and 400 mosques or temples 
(wrote Cortes, in his second letter to Charles 
v.). Towering above the plain, and over- 
topping all other structures in Cholula, stood 
108 



A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 

(as it stands to-day) the famed temple- 
pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, an arti- 
ficial hill 200 feet in height and 1000 feet 
square at the base. 

There was no sign of treachery or enmity 
in the faces of the happy people who wel- 
comed Cortes and his company with acclaim ; 
but the priests, like those of Tlascala, re- 
fused to prostrate their idols and abase their 
religion — the most ancient in the land — at 
his command. Finally, the alert and in- 
quisitive Malinche, mistress of Cortes, hav- 
ing acquired the confidence of a cacique's 
wife, was told by her that the Cholulans had 
planned a massacre and urged her to secure a 
refuge in her house. Malinche (Dona Marina) 
promptly informed her master, and, the pro- 
visions hitherto supplied by the city authori- 
ties failing at this time, he called a council 
of his officers . Two native priests were 
brought before them, who confessed that 
Montezuma had been assured by his gods 
that the Spaniards were to be delivered into 
his hands at Cholula, while the chief cacique 
had received from the king the gift of a 
golden drum, which indicated promotion 
and preference. 

Condemned without a hearing, foredoomed 
109 



HERNANDO CORTES 

to furnish themselves victims for a massa- 
cre, instead of their guests, most of the 
Cholulan nobility were enticed within the 
walls of a great court, where the Spaniards 
were quartered. Then the gates were closed 
and the slaughter began, at a signal, which 
was the firing of an arquebuse. 

*' We were all prepared for what was to 
be done," wrote one of those who took part 
in the massacre. ''The soldiers, armed with 
sword and buckler, were placed at the gate 
of the great court, in order to prevent any 
from escaping, and our general was on horse- 
back attended by a strong guard." 

When he saw the people crowding in at 
the gate he said: "How anxious are these 
traitors to feast upon our flesh. . . . But God 
will disappoint them!" He then caused the 
signal to be given, and the blood-thirsty sol- 
diers fell upon the defenceless throng like 
wolves upon a flock of lambs. Mingled with 
the roar of cannon and musketry were the 
death-shrieks of men, women, and children, 
murdered by the thousand. Blood. ran in 
streams, the dead were piled high in heaps, 
and such unfortunates as survived were 
afterwards burned alive. 

In all, it is said, more than 6000 Cholulans 
no 



A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 

were murdered on this lamentable occasion. 
Aside from those killed by the Spanish mur- 
derers in the court, thousands perished out- 
side, in the city streets and in the country, 
slaughtered by the fierce Tlascalans, who, by 
invitation of Cortes, took part in the massa- 
cre and gratified their thirst for blood. 

The termination of this terrible battle was 
at the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, up the ter- 
raced sides of which the combined force of 
Spaniards and Tlascalans pursued the des- 
perate Cholulans. At the summit was a 
gigantic effigy of the " God of Peace," adorn- 
ed with gems, around his neck a collar of 
precious stones, spouting from his diadem 
the feathery flames that signified his attri- 
butes. Around their god the Cholulans 
gathered in a last attempt to repel the in- 
vaders. They cast down javelins and burn- 
ing arrows, stones and timbers from the ruin 
of their temple; but nothing could stay the 
progress of those invincible soldiers clad in 
steel. They halted not until the last miser- 
able defender had been thrown from the 
pyramid and the city was wrapped in flames. 

The distance in time which separates us 
from both Cortes and Montezuma relieves us 
from the necessity of apologizing for the acts 
III 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of either; but, notwithstanding the labored 
attempts of the conqueror's biographers to 
vindicate his acts, the impression has re- 
mained throughout the centuries that there 
was no real excuse for his dreadful deeds at 
Cholula. In fact, no proof was ever adduced 
that a rising was meditated by the Cholulans ; 
and whether the horrible massacre may be 
regarded as justifiable, depends upon the 
point of view taken by the reader, and hence 
is not open to argument. But whatever in- 
juries Cortes had inflicted, he had surely ac- 
quired prestige in Mexico. He had caused 
Montezuma to tremble on his throne, and his 
subjects to quake at the mere mention of the 
invading teules, who, now, departing from 
the sacred city of Cholula, set their faces 
sternly towards Tenochtitlan. 

'Twixt Cholula 's temple-pyramid and the 
capital of Aztlan, a distance of about seventy 
miles intervened. The route was rugged, 
and part of the way was difficult, lying be- 
tween the great volcanoes Popocatapetl and 
Ixtaccihuatl, whose snow-covered peaks are 
visible from both centres of population. They 
are the mightiest peaks in Mexico, and form 
part of that vast mountain system which 
encloses and isolates the great valley of Ana- 

112 



A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 

huac, in the centre of which lay the island - 
capital, Tenochtitlan, the ancient ''city of 
the Cactus Rock." This city had been 
founded by the Aztecs about the year 1325 
and had waxed great and powerful. Its 
rulers had extended their sway, under the 
conquests of successive kings, from ocean to 
ocean, and from its northernmost border 
southward to the confines of Guatemala. 

The only independent people, not subject 
more or less directly to the Mexicans, or 
Aztecs, were the Tlascalans, 6000 of whose 
warriors accompanied Cortes on the march 
from Cholula, as soldiers and burden-bearers. 
They took the place of the retiring Totonacs, 
who were sent back to the coast, scantily 
rewarded for their arduous services from the 
abundance of clothing donated to Cortes by 
Montezuma, and which the shivering allies 
gladly accepted in lieu of gold. The Indians 
from Cuba had all perished of cold and priva- 
tion, so the acquisition by the Spaniards — 
first of the Totonacs, then of the Tlascalans 
— ^was a stroke of great good-fortune. 

From the summit - platform of the great 

pyramid at Cholula, where anciently stood 

the God of Plumes and burned the perpetual 

fire in his honor, a view is outspread which 

113 



HERNANDO CORTES 

affords one of the world's most glorious 
prospects, for it rises from the centre of a 
vast and fertile plain and is overlooked by 
the great, snow - crested volcanoes. After 
crossing the beautiful plain with which Cho- 
lula was encompassed, the army entered the 
gloomy forests that clothed the shoulders of 
and filled the gap between those grim giants 
Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatapetl, or the "Wom- 
an in White " and the "Hill that Smokes." 

Two trails were open to the Spaniards, and 
Cortes chose the longer of the two, though it 
was then obstructed with rocks and fallen 
tree-trunks, by order (he was told) of Monte- 
zuma, who desired him to take the other 
route, somewhere along which he had an 
ambuscade prepared for his destruction. 

Colder and colder became the air, chilled 
as it was by the everlasting snows that cover 
the volcano-peaks. The trail, or road, crossed 
the gap at an altitude of 14,000 feet. From 
its highest point several of the Spaniards 
made an attempt to gain the crater-brim of 
Popocatapetl — in which they succeeded, to 
the amazement of the natives, who were 
greatly impressed by this daring feat (the 
first of the kind, perhaps, ever known to 
them). The army passed the night housed 
114 



A MASSACRE IN THE HOLY CITY 

in great stone shelters which had been erected 
for the lodging of travellers, and the next 
morning, after having been chilled to the 
bone, crossed the crest of Ahualco, from 
which the first view was afforded them of the 
valley of Mexico. It is a glorious prospect, 
that which opens to the traveller over the 
Popocatapetl trail from the elevated slopes 
of Ahualco, and should have impressed even 
those sordid fortune-hunters under command 
of Cortes. But they have left no record 
of their sensations at beholding the beauti- 
ful panorama unfolded before their eyes, like 
a distant vision of paradise — that vast ex- 
panse of upland valley, dotted with forests, 
lakes, towns, all encircling and tributary to 
the great gem in the centre, the city of the 
isle and cactus rock, Tenochtitlan. They 
had not come to view scenery, but were there 
for spoils ; and there were many among them 
who wished most ardently (as they saw the 
numerous cities set out before them, and the 
vast valley teeming with people, who might 
soon be enemies in conflict) that they could 
be swiftly transported back to Cuba. 

It was now too late to recede, and the only 
thought that animated the bravest of the 
company was what rich booty the sacking 
115 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of those populous cities would afford. There 
were many thousands of people, to be sure; 
but, as the Spanish proverb has it, ''Mas 
Moros mas ganancia'' (the more Moors the 
greater the spoil), they muttered in their 
beards. Thus they blew upon their courage 
to warm it, inwardly quaking at their temer- 
ity in bearding the Aztec lion in his den, 
swarming as it was with brave though servile 
subjects. 



X 

IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 
1519 

MALINTZIN," said the spokesman of 
. a deputation of noble lords, sent by 
Montezuma to meet Cortes with rich gifts, 
"these presents our monarch sends you, say- 
ing how grieved he is that you should take 
such trouble in coming from a distant coun- 
try to see him. As he has already told you, 
he will give gold, silver, and gems for you 
and your teules, on condition that you will 
abandon your intention and not approach 
any nearer his capital. He now repeats this 
request, and promises that he will send after 
you a great treasure of gold and jewels for 
your king, four loads of gold for yourself, and 
a load for each of your brethren, on the con- 
dition that you return at once." 

Cortes thanked the ambassadors most 
courteously for their gifts and those condi- 
tionally promised, which would have amount- 
117 



HERNANDO CORTES 

ed to more than $1,000,000 in value; but, 
he said, he was still determined upon keeping 
on until the object of his long and toilsome 
journey should be reached. He was sur- 
prised, he continued, to find the great Monte- 
zuma so variable, first inviting him to his 
court, then desiring him to depart, without 
so much as a glimpse of his glorious counte- 
nance. He respectfully submitted, to them 
and to him, that he could not now turn back, 
being pledged to his sovereign to proceed and 
deliver his message at court. 

No course was open to the Spaniards now 
but to proceed, even though a rumor was 
circulated in the ranks that it was Monte- 
zuma's intention to permit them to enter 
the city and then put them all to death. 
"And being like other mortals," says one 
of the soldiers, "and desirous to live, it filled 
us with melancholy thoughts." 

Still, on they marched, first halting at the 
town of Amecameca, then at Tlalmanalco 
(two towns founded by the Aztecs, which yet 
exist) , where they rested and refreshed them- 
selves during two days and nights, being well 
received by the caciques, who gave them food 
as well as gold. Passing thence through 
plantations of maize and maguey, the little 
118 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

band came to Chalco, a town near the first 
of that chain of lakes so famous in Mexico's 
history. Here the night was passed, and 
next morning word came to Cortes by cour- 
ier that Montezuma's nephew, Cacamatzin, 
king of Tezcoco, was approaching, and the 
army was drawn up to receive him. Six 
native nobles bore his palanquin, which was 
adorned with feathers, gold, and gems, and 
others swept the ground over which he 
passed. 

The Spaniards were favorably impressed 
by the king of Tezcoco, whose magnificence 
gave assurance of what was in store for them 
at Montezuma's court, and falling into line 
they marched along with elastic step. The 
die was cast and they were already in the 
trap — if trap there were — set by the Mexicans 
for their capture, having sprung it them- 
selves when they crossed the mountain ridge 
and left that barrier behind them. 

Skirting the southeastern shore of Lake 
Chalco, at a town (still existing) known as 
Ayocingo, they took the causeway for a 
small island where stood a city called Cuit- 
lahuac (to-day it is Tlahuac) which, with its 
white and glistening houses of stone and its 
blossoming gardens, struck them as exceed- 

9 119 



HERNANDO CORTES 



ingly beautiful. Across the lake, northward, 
led another stone causeway, broad enough 
for eight horsemen to ride abreast, which 
ended at Iztapalapan, a city containing sev- 




CITY OF MEXICO 

eral thousand dwellings and stone palaces 
with massive cedar beams, set amid gardens 
of flowers. Montezuma's brother was gov- 
ernor here, and in one of the vast halls of his 
palace he had gathered many lords of in- 

I20 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

ferior cities to assist him in welcoming the 
Spaniards, who were given a banquet and 
sumptuously entertained. 

The great city of ^lexico, also known as 
Tenochtitlan, the Heart of Anahuac, and 
Aztlan, was distinctly visible from Iztapala- 
pan, and was pointed out by the Mexican 
nobles, who had no occasion to magnify its 
wonders, which were perfectly apparent to 
the astonished strangers. Founded 200 years 
before, on an island in the salt lake, Tezcoco, 
the Aztec city had grown with great rapidity, 
long since having spread beyond its original 
limits. Three wide causeways and an aque- 
duct, all solidly built of stone and mortar, 
connected with the main -land around the 
lake, north, south, and west. Easterly lay 
the bulk of Tezcoco 's waters, across which, 
on the farther shore, gleamed the towers and 
temples of a city bearing the same name as 
the lake. 

The causeway connecting Iztapalapan with 
the capital was six miles in length and 
eight yards in breadth. It ran straight as 
an arrow's flight to the great city's central 
square, whence it was prolonged on its north- 
ern side to the main-land at Tepeyacac, where 
to-day stands the sacred shrine of Guadelupe. 

J2I 



HERNANDO CORTES 

About a mile from the southern shore the 
causeway was joined by another from the 
town of Coyoacan, and at their juncture 
stood a small but very strong stone fort, with 
walls ten feet high to the battlements and 
surrounded with a moat crossed by draw- 
bridges. All three causeways, in fact, were 
frequently cut by broad canals or ditches, 
spanned by wooden bridges, which could be 
raised at will, and thus, for a time at least, 
prevent the advance or retreat of an enemy 
so rash as to venture upon those narrow 
structures of stone amid the waters. 

Cortes and his men realized perfectly the 
risks they ran in taking this isolated high- 
way, with the waters on either side alive with 
Indian canoes, a fortified city in front of 
them, and their retreat cut off by the gaps 
of open water that the raising of the bridges 
would reveal. The brave commander's eagle 
glance took in all this ; but, nevertheless, he 
still advanced, impelled by a soldier's pride, 
perhaps also by a holy zeal for the conversion 
of the Mexicans. Led by him, forced to act 
against their own judgment by him, the army 
took the road for Aztlan's capital, by the 
way of Mexicalzinco, with the salt Tezcoco 
on one side of their narrow causeway and 

122 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

the fresh waters of Chalco on the other. The 
air was soft, the scenery enchanting. On 
every side were natural objects of wonder- 
ful beauty, and architectural works show- 
ing taste and refinement. Above all other 
things which excited the wonder of these 
rude soldiers were the beautiful chinampas, 
or floating gardens, on the bosom of Lake 
Chalco, made of matted vegetation, woven 
together with vines, covered with earth, and 
supporting growing plants bearing fruits and 
flowers for the markets of Mexico. 

The people of Aztlan, or Aztec land, press- 
ed forward by thousands to witness the ad- 
vance of this grim body of warriors, scant 
500 strong, cleaving the throngs like a wedge 
— a living wedge — which at no distant day 
was to split the Mexican empire in twain! 
The common soldiers kept their eyes upon 
their leader, who rode proudly at their head, 
the life, the soul, the animating purpose of 
that amazing expedition. Close after him 
came the cavalry, the horses' iron hoofs ring- 
ing loudly on the stones of the causeway. 
Next to the cavalry, the iron guns drawn 
by the allies attracted the dazed attention 
of the Aztecs, as the artillery went rumbling 
and rattling over the road. Then came the 
123 



HERNANDO CORTES 

arquebusiers, with their matchlocks: few in 
number, these musketeers, but grim and 
stern-looking in their bonnets and corselets 
of steel. After them strode the swords- 
men and halberdiers, or pikemen, com- 
prising the infantry and the bulk of the 
soldiery. 

All were lithe and sinewy men, for the 
weaklings had been weeded out long since 
by the grim Reaper with his sickle of death. 
Only strong men and stalwart were there, 
for the bearing of their armor (whether of 
steel or quilted cotton and iron) was a bur- 
den for any able-bodied soldier. Their helms 
flashed back the morning sunshine, as well 
as sword-hilt and halberd-head, breastplate, 
arquebuse, and battle-axe. Compact and 
perfectly drilled, swayed by one impulse, 
one resistless will, these mailed monsters, as 
they marched along with ring of steel and 
rattle of accoutrements, must have appeared 
to the wondering natives what they nearly 
were — invincible. They excited the awed 
wonder of the thronging Mexicans, between 
whose serried ranks they broke their way — 
a wonder too deep for any other sensation 
to affect them — until the thousand Tlasca- 
lans who came trooping after, darting their 
124 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

fierce glances right and left, stirred their deep 
hatred and resentment. 

The army came to Xoloc, where the small 
fort stood at the juncture of the causeways, 
and Cortes noted swiftly its strategic ad- 
vantages, which the following year he used 
so well in his siege of the city. Here the 
Spaniards halted, while looo or more of 
the Mexican nobility trooped past them, 
each noble with a salute for Cortes, as com- 
mander, consisting of a deep obeisance, and 
kissing one hand, after first touching it to 
the earth. Thus passed more than an hour, 
when, this barbaric ceremony being ended, 
the army moved on again towards the city, 
arrived near the great gate of which an- 
nouncement was made by messengers that 
Montezuma was approaching. The nobles 
hastened to meet their sovereign lord, and 
Cortes, dismounting from his horse, threw 
the bridle-reins to a page and advanced to 
greet the emperor. 

No horse had he, the great Montezuma, 
whose slightest wish was law throughout an 
ocean-bounded realm, nor had he ever seen 
one before that day on which he met the in- 
vaders of his capital. He rode upon the 
shoulders of his subjects, in a litter (or palan- 

125 



HERNANDO CORTES 

quin) dazzling in its adornments, descending 
from which, and leaning on the arms of two 
attendant princes, he revealed himself at 
last to the rash stranger who had so persist- 
ently sought him. 

That was another triumph for Cortes: to 
be received on an equality with kings, though 
coming in the character of ambassador. He 
had won the respect, had compelled the ad- 
miration, of the greatest monarch any Span- 
iard had ever approached in the New World 
called America. 

The emperor appeared to be about forty 
years of age, was tall and spare, with a cop- 
pery complexion and sparse beard. His 
eyes were dark and melancholy, his hair 
black and coarse, worn long and flowing. 
His head was adorned with a rude tiara of 
gold and a panache of green plumes, the 
insignia of his military rank. His embroid- 
ered tilmatli, or Aztec cloak, was trimmed 
with pearls and chalchiuitls , as also were his 
buskins or sandals, the soles of which were 
of gold. The precious metal was conspicu- 
ous, not only on his royal person, but on the 
palanquin in which he arrived, with pillars 
plated with gold and feathered canopy. 

Advancing towards each other, king and 
126 




MONTEZUMA 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

conqueror met and exchanged greetings. 
Cortes, in his disregard of the dignity that 
hedged about the sovereign, would have em- 
braced him, after the effusive Spanish cus- 
tom, but was halted half-way by the hor- 
rified attendants. He, however, hung around 
the emperor's neck a collar of pearls and dia- 
monds (false, like his own pretensions), 
which he had the audacity — the impudence, 
even — to beg Montezuma to accept in the 
name of his sovereign. 

The really great and generous Montezuma 
little cared for the value of a gift, preferring 
rather to give than to receive, and so, with- 
out more than a glance at the collar, he or- 
dered one of his retinue to present Cortes with 
two necklaces of mother-of-pearl with pen- 
dants of golden crayfish beautifully wrought. 
The two chief personages in this interchange 
of civilities then held brief converse through 
the interpreters. Cortes remarked (and truth- 
fully) that he rejoiced in having at last 
seen so great a monarch, and that he felt 
highly honored by his attentions. Monte- 
zuma responded graciously, and, having given 
orders for the princes of Tezcoco and Coyoa- 
can to attend his guests to the quarters pre- 
pared for them in the city, he re-entered his 
127 



HERNANDO CORTES 

palanquin and returned to his palace, guard- 
ed by his nobles, and between double ranks 
of cringing subjects. 

Greatly elated, Cortes and his soldiers fol- 
lowed close behind, with drums beating, 
trumpets sounding, and colors fluttering, all 
their recent misgivings swept away, their 
hopes in the ascendant. For had not the 
mighty Montezuma received them with great- 
est honor and their chief with all the dis- 
tinction of royalty itself ? There was no talk 
now of going back to Cuba, for all were exult- 
ant as, treading lightly to the sound of mar- 
tial music, they entered the city through the 
southern gate. They marched straight down 
the central avenue leading to the great plaza, 
on either side vast, massive palaces frowned 
down upon by the teocalUs, or temple-pyra- 
mids, their summits smoking with the fires of 
sacrifice. 

At the entrance to an immense structure 
on the western side of the plaza they found 
Montezuma and his suite awaiting them. 
Taking Cortes by the hand, the emperor 
said, "Malintzin, here you and your friends 
are now at home; enter and repose your- 
selves after the fatigue of your march." 
He then departed for his palace, prom- 
128 



IN THE CITY OF MEXICO 

ising to return after the Spaniards had 
rested. 

The building assigned to the army of guests 
whom Montezimia was called upon to enter- 
tain was formerly the palace of his father, 
King Axayacatl. Its vast size may be in- 
ferred from the fact that within its walls am- 
ple accommodations were found for all the 
Spaniards as well as their allies. The apart- 
ment reserved for Cortes was hung with cot- 
ton tapestries, golden-fringed, its floor cov- 
ered with rushes as mats, and set about with 
wooden stools. 

Refreshments were awaiting their arrival, 
and after the grim battalions had filed in and 
had been assigned to quarters, after cannon 
had been posted at the gates and sentinels 
on the parapets, Cortes ordered a salute fired 
from the artillery, as a sign of triumph, and 
in order to terrify the Mexicans, who swarmed 
about the palace in wonder and amaze. It 
was a rude return for Montezuma's gracious 
hospitalities, and it was not the last of its 
kind ; but the roar of the cannon reverberat- 
ing through the streets and squares served 
the purpose intended by Cortes, and was 
sufficiently terrifying to the astonished 
Aztecs. Never before in the 200 years of 
129 



HERNANDO CORTES 

its existence had the Aztec city heard such 
sounds, nor had it ever before been invaded 
by soldiers in armor, bearing weapons that 
evoked the thunder and the lightning. 



XI 

AT Montezuma's court 
1519 

THE Spaniards made their memorable 
entry into Montezuma's capital on No- 
vember 8, 1 5 19, seven months after their 
arrival on the coast of Mexico. On the day 
following, attended by four of his captains 
and five soldiers, Cortes set out for the 
palace of Montezuma, which occupied an 
extensive area on the opposite side of the 
square. The emperor received his visitors 
graciously, placing Cortes at his right hand, 
and soon showed great curiosity concern- 
ing the land from which the Spaniards had 
come to Mexico, their origin, and especial- 
ly the great ruler whom they professed to 
serve. 

He still held to the theory that they were, 

perhaps, related in some manner to the God 

of Air, whose coming the Mexicans had so 

long expected, and appealed to Cortes for in- 

131 



HERNANDO CORTES 

formation. The crafty conqueror (having 
now an inkling of the importance and signifi- 
cance of this connection) eagerly assured 
him that he was correct; but he could not 
explain to Montezuma's satisfaction how it 
was that disciples of the Prince of Peace 
should have appeared (as they had) with 
fire and sword. After Cortes had concluded 
his address, with the assurance that the Span- 
iards worshipped "the only true God," while 
the gods of the Aztecs were false, and would 
lead them "into everlasting flames," there 
was silence for a space, then Montezuma re- 
plied: "Malintzin, I have already heard, 
through my ambassadors, of those things 
you now mention, and to which hitherto we 
have made no reply, because we from the 
first worshipped the gods we now do, and 
consider them just and good. So, no doubt, 
are yours. In regard to the creation of the 
world, our beliefs are the same, and we also 
believe that you are the people who were to 
come to us from where the sun rises. To 
your great king I feel indebted. There have 
been already persons on our coasts from 
your country ; I wish to know if you are the 
same people?" 
Cortes answered that they were all sub- 
132 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

jects of the same sovereign, and Montezuma 
continued that from the very first he had 
desired to see them, which privilege his gods 
had now granted him. They should there- 
fore consider themselves perfectly at home, 
and if ever they were refused entrance into 
any of his cities it would not be his fault, 
but that of his subjects, who were terrified 
by the reports they had heard : such as that 
they carried with them the thunder and 
lightning; that their horses killed men, and 
that they were furious teules with blood in 
their eyes. 

Throughout the interview — and, in fact, 
during all his intercourse with the Spaniards 
— Montezuma was extremely affable, and 
yet bore himself with dignity. Just before 
his visitors took their departure he made a 
sign to his officials, who brought in ten loads 
of rich mantles, which, together with as 
many collars of gold and golden ornaments, 
he divided among his guests. " The gold alone 
amounted to above looo crowns," says one 
of them, "and he gave it with an affability 
and indifference which made him appear a 
truly magnificent prince. . . . We then retired, 
impressed with respect for the great Monte- 
zuma, his princely manners and liberality." 
133 



HERNANDO CORTES 

The ''great Montezuma," and a "truly 
magnificent prince," he may well have been 
termed, not only because of his kinglike 
greatness and air of majesty, but on account 
of the regal luxuriousness of his surround- 
ings. The palace in which he had received 
the Spaniards was but one of many which he 
owned, yet this vast structure contained 
more than a hundred rooms, and three in- 
terior courts, or patios, adorned with foun- 
tains, flowers, and cages filled with beautiful 
birds. One of its reception halls was fin- 
ished in marbles and jasper, and could hold 
3000 persons. The roofs of the palace were 
flat and battlemented, with ample space (the 
Spaniards said) for them all to hold a tour- 
ney. 

A thousand people is a goodly number for 
even a royal household to contain, but that 
of Montezuma boasted this large retinue; 
while his cooks, of whom he had scores, 
could serve his meats in thirty different 
styles. Three hundred dishes were prepared 
for his table alone, and for his guards above 
a thousand. The royal table was set with 
snowy napery and the earthen-ware of Cho- 
lula, while for finger-bowls four beautiful 
women presented the emperor with xicales, 
134 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

or calabashes, containing perfumed water for 
laving his hands. 

Torches of aromatic wood diffused a grate- 
ful fragrance while they burned above the 
board, and gilded screens of wood were placed 
so as to shield his majesty from the vulgar 
gaze. Although he could command a pro- 
fusion of viands, Montezuma ate but spar- 
ingly, his favorite food being fruits and vege- 
tables, and his drink the Mexican pulque 
(pronounced pool-kay) and chocolate. Fifty 
cups of chocolate were usually served at a 
meal, and while he sipped it he was amused 
by singers and dancers, sometimes by acro- 
bats and jesters. After the chocolate came 
tobacco, the smoke of which he inhaled 
through hollow canes or reeds, and immedi- 
ately upon the conclusion of the repast he 
took his siesta. 

There was a daily interchange of visits 
after the Spaniards had made themselves 
''at home" in the palace of Axayacatl, and 
on the fourth day Cortes and his staff went 
out to inspect the- great temple-pyramid, 
the teocalH, which rose to a height of more 
than loo feet above the plaza. Montezuma 
met them by appointment, having been con- 
veyed thither in his palanquin, and when 
135 



HERNANDO CORTES 

arrived at the summit-platform of the vast 
pyramidal structure of stone took Cortes by 
the hand and pointed out to him, the various 
objects of interest in and about the city. 

The glorious view outspread before the 
Spaniards that day — at least its natural 
features — may be seen from the bell-towers 
of the great cathedral, which was later 
erected on the site of the teocalli. En- 
vironed on every side by great mountain 
ranges, the valley of the table-land, 8000 
feet above the sea, stretched away as far as 
eye could see. Westward rose the sacred 
'' Hill of the GrsLS^hoy^ev,'' Chapoltepec, which 
may be seen to-day, as then, covered with 
groves of giant cypresses. 

Directly at the feet of the mailed con- 
querors lay the city, with its great squares 
and straight, wide streets; its palaces, mar- 
ket-places, pyramidal temples and towers. 
They had passed through the largest of the 
markets, known as the tianguis, where they 
were struck with admiration of its system 
and orderly arrangement, and the profusion 
of supplies from every zone. 

Near the great pyramid was another tem- 
ple, containing the skeletons of sacrificial 
victims who had perished in the past, where 
136 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

skulls were piled up (one of the conquerors 
avers) to the number of 136,000. A great 
wall surrounded the vast enclosure, pierced 
by four gateways, above which were cham- 
bers used as the royal armory. Here were 
collections of barbaric weapons which had 
been accumulated during many years. 

There were wonders on every side, such as 
the great towers and smoking teocallis. The 
bosom of the lake was animated with thou- 
sands of Indians in canoes ; the noise of the 
great market could be heard miles away; 
but the Spaniards on the temple - platform 
scarce gave heed to all these, so amazed and 
horrified were they at what they beheld im- 
mediately about them. They had ascended 
to the platform of the temple by climbing 
more than 100 steps, which wound around 
its terraced sides in successive stages. The 
first object that stared them in the face 
was grim old Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli, the 
Aztec war-god, in whose name and before 
whom all the bloody sacrifices took place. 
He had a ** great face and terrible eyes," 
says one of the party that day; "his figure 
was entirely covered with gold and jewels, 
his body bound with golden serpents ; in his 
right hand he held a bow and in his left a 
137 



HERNANDO CORTES 

bundle of arrows. Before this idol was a 
pan of incense, with three human hearts 
burning as an offering. Near him stood an- 
other hideous idol, Tezcatlipoca, or the god of 
the infernal regions, with a countenance like 
a bear and great, shining eyes of the polished 
substance {iztli, or obsidian) whereof their 
mirrors are made." Both great idols over- 
looked the Sacrificial Stone, nine feet in 
diameter, three feet in height, with a sculpt- 
ured border of conquering kings. This 
stone had a deep bowl in its centre, with a 
channel leading from it to the edge, through 
which flowed the blood of the victims. 

It was upon this stone that the high-priests 
of Montezuma's charnel-house threw the hu- 
man victims selected for sacrifice, with knives 
of obsidian cut open their breasts, and then 
tore out their hearts, which they offered to 
those great stone idols looking on in grim 
approval. More than 60,000 victims were 
sacrificed here in a single year, tradition re- 
lates, and for how many years no chronicle 
can tell. 

Would you see these objects that Cortes 
gazed upon that day when, with Monte- 
zuma, he ranged the temple-pyramid nearly 
400 years ago ? Then go to Mexico, seek the 
138 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

great museum of its capital city, and there 
you will find them: grim Huitzilopochtli, 
bear-faced Tezcatlipoca, the blood-stained 
Sacrificial Stone, and hundreds of the tepi- 
tolones, or little gods, which had their places 
in the Aztec pantheon. 

So accustomed to these hideous objects 
was Montezuma that he calmly went about 
among them, pointing out their excellences, 
and with no misgiving, apparently, except 
as to the manner in which they would be 
received by his guests. He could not but 
observe their horrified looks and their dis- 
gust ; but these he ignored, until finally Cortes, 
unable longer to endure the bloody scenes, . 
reasoned with him upon the folly, the wick- 
edness, of adoring such hideous images. " I 
wonder," he said, ''that a monarch so wise 
as you are can worship as gods those abomi- 
nable figures of the devil." 

He tried to treat the whole thing as a grim 
and ghastly joke, speaking half - jestingly, 
but Montezuma was grieved and shocked. 
He looked at Cortes in wonder, then sadly 
answered: "If I had known that you would 
have spoken so lightly of my gods, I should 
not have allowed you to visit the platform 
of my temple. Go, now, to your quarters; 
139 



HERNANDO CORTES 

go in peace, while I remain to appease the 
anger of our gods." He spoke calmly, but 
his eyes flashed angrily, and as the priests 
of the temple, their hair matted with gore, 
and their black robes stained with human 
blood, began to gather ominously, the Span- 
iards beat a retreat to their quarters in the 
palace. 

It had been the intention of Cortes to apply 
to Montezuma for space upon the pyramid- 
platform in which to erect a chapel, but from 
this he was dissuaded. When, however, he 
asked permission to erect an altar in Axaya- 
catl's palace, it was gladly given by the em- 
peror, who furnished workmen and materials, 
so that in three days a separate apartment 
was provided for the purpose. Sounding 
the walls for a niche in which to place the 
cross, the workmen found a concealed door, 
which, when opened, revealed a room filled 
with gold, gems, silver, jewels, feather-work 
and gorgeous fabrics. " We there saw riches 
without end," wrote Diaz, the conqueror, 
''and I thought that if all the treasures of 
the earth had been brought into one place 
they could not have amounted to so much." 

The secret of the treasure - house soon 
spread abroad, and every soldier as well as 
140 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

officer in the command got a glimpse of it. 
They could scarce keep themselves from ap- 
propriating and sharing it then and there, 
but by orders of Cortes the wall was closed 
up again and the treasure left for ''a more 
convenient season." 

It may as well be stated here that Monte- 
zuma was later compelled to deliver up this 
treasure to the Spaniards, who broke up the 
beautiful ornaments and cast them into bars, 
which were stamped with the imperial arms. 
The articles of gold alone formed three great 
heaps, exclusive of the jewels, silver, pearls 
and feather-work, and the whole was valued 
at more than $6,000,000. 

The soldiers then considered themselves 
rich "beyond the dreams of avarice"; but 
they still had Cortes to reckon with, and this 
is how he divided that imperial loot: First, 
he laid aside a fifth for his majesty in Spain ; 
then another fifth for himself. Of the re- 
maining three-fifths a generous portion was 
set off to ''reimburse the Cuban expedition," 
the expense of which had been mainly borne 
by Cortes; fourthly, for the expenses of the 
agents sent to Spain from Vera Cruz; fifthly, 
for the soldiers at Villa Rica; sixthly, for 
the horses killed in battle; seventhly, for 
141 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the Rev. Father Olmedo and the captains; 
eighthly, double shares for the cavalry, mus- 
keteers, and cross-bowmen ; ninthly, the foot- 
soldiers, whose shares by this time were 
hardly worth stooping for. In fact, out of 
that vast hoard, amounting to more than 
$6,000,000, the infantry's share, as allotted 
by Cortes, was less than $1000 to each sol- 
dier. 

Little wonder that there were mutterings, 
loud and deep, that many of these heroes, 
upon whom the commander had relied in 
battle, and to whom he had made repeated 
promises of wealth and honors, were ready 
to return at once to the coast and to Cuba. 
Some of these Cortes quieted with gold, 
others with more promises ; but they all knew 
him now as cunning, covetous, and mer- 
cenary. 

At the end of a week the Spaniards had 
visited nearly every nook in the city, and 
the natives no longer paid attention to them, 
save to supply their wants by orders of 
Montezuma. They, as well as their allies, 
were tired of inaction, and the sight of the 
vast treasure having excited their cupidity, 
they were anxious to be off with it to a place 
of safety. These were the feelings of the 
142 



AT MONTEZUMA'S COURT 

rank and file. They were shared by their 
commander only in part. He desired not 
only treasure, but conquest, and the prob- 
lem which confronted him was how to 
achieve the conquest of 300,000 people with 
less than 7000. His days and nights were 
full of anxiety, for he saw that, having hith- 
erto played a deep, bold game, he could only 
win by artful strategy and yet bolder moves. 
The strategy of Cortes was subtle but shal- 
low. The invasion of the capital appeared 
to have been a mistake ; but a much greater 
one was his next move, which was the se- 
curing of Montezuma as a prisoner. By 
doing this, he argued, he might either re- 
main in security or retreat in safety; but, 
in point of fact, he was unable to do either. 
Though the fears of the Spaniards may have 
suggested a possibility of treachery on the 
part of Montezuma, they could not point to 
a single act in proof of it. On the contrary, 
his conduct, and hitherto that of his nobles, 
had been exemplary. He had been gener- 
ous beyond precedent, and had treated his 
uninvited guests with a consideration vastly 
greater than they deserved. 

So Cortes cast about for a pretext, though, 
in truth, he was base enough and bold enough 
143 



HERNANDO CORTES 

to proceed without one, and found it in an 
event which had occurred at Vera Cruz. The 
lord of a province contiguous to the Totonacs 
had tried to collect tribute of them in the 
name of Montezuma. The Spanish garrison 
at Villa Rica had gone to their assistance, 
but had been defeated with the loss of seven 
soldiers, including among them the com- 
mander, Juan de Escalante. One soldier 
had been captured alive and sent to Monte- 
zuma, but had died on the way. His head 
was cut off, however, and, as a hideous 
trophy, arrived in Mexico at the time Cortes 
and his men were in Cholula. 

Cortes had knowledge of these things be- 
fore he entered the capital, but he kept it to 
himself, biding his time. The time had now 
arrived, he believed, when Montezuma should 
be taxed with his treachery, and, confiding 
this sentiment to his captains, he secured 
their hearty assent. They resolved, in se- 
cret council, to seize the person of the em- 
peror. 



XII 

MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 
1519-1520 

PRECEDED by the interpreters, Agui- 
lar and Dona Marina, and attended by 
five of his captains, Cortes repaired to the 
palace of Montezuma, who received his vis- 
itors graciously, as usual, distributing pres- 
ents and acting in a manner wholly void of 
suspicion. The accusation of the Spaniards 
came like a thunder - clap, and at first he 
was overcome with astonishment ; but when 
Cortes declared that he must send for the 
guilty chief and his accomplices he assented 
at once. Attached to a bracelet on his wrist 
was the signet of Huitzilopochtli — the royal 
seal. Detaching this emblem of authority, 
he gave it to a noble of his court, with the 
command that he bring before him Cacique 
Qualpopoca (who had committed the deed) 
and those concerned with him in the attack 
upon the Spaniards. 

145 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Having done this, he thought, of course, 
that Cortes would be satisfied; but though 
he expressed himself as well pleased, the con- 
queror declared that one thing more was 
necessary to placate his men and assure the 
safety of all. That was the removal of Mon- 
tezuma and his court to Spanish quarters in 
the palace of Axayacatl. This astounding 
proposition, coming from strangers who had 
been less than ten days in his capital, and 
whose numbers were so far inferior to those 
of the Aztecs, nearly took Montezuma's 
breath away. When he had recovered 
speech he replied, indignantly: "When was 
there ever an instance of a king, a great 
ruler like myself, tamely suffering himself 
to be led into prison? And though I were 
willing to debase myself in so vile a manner, 
would not all my vassals at once arm them- 
selves to set me free?" 

Cortes replied with specious arguments, 
which the king refuted, until the captains 
standing by became very impatient. One of 
them, De Leon, cried out in a rough voice: 
"Why waste so many words on this bar- 
barian? Let him thi^ moment yield him- 
self a prisoner or we will plunge our swords 
into his body. Tell him this, interpreter, 
146 



MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 

and, also, that if he says a word he dies 
for it!" 

Dona Marina softened this brutal speech 
as much as possible; but Montezuma knew 
from the captain's tone and gestures that 
his life was threatened, and this monarch of 
an almost limitless realm yielded to his fears. 

"Then let us go," he said, with trembling 
voice. ''I am willing to trust myself with 
you. Let us go, since my gods surely in- 
tend it!" 

The news of his departure spread rapidly, 
and there was danger of an immediate up- 
rising of the Mexicans, which was averted 
by Montezuma himself, who caused it to be 
proclaimed that he went with the Spaniards 
of his own free will. Entering his palanquin 
with royal state, attended by the nobles of 
his court, but closely guarded by the iron- 
willed conquerors, the emperor departed 
from his palace, which he was never again to 
enter alive. 

An apartment was prepared in the palace 
of Axayacatl, hung w4th fine tapestries and 
furnished from the rooms he had abandoned. 
His hundreds of attendants waited around 
him as before, anticipating every want and 
serving him with eyes averted, still cringing 
147 



HERNANDO CORTES 

before the deposed lord of Aztlan. Still, he 
was a prisoner, no longer in control of his 
own movements, and in effect imperious 
Cortes was absolute ruler over Mexico. The 
dominance of Cortes was made manifest to 
all in a terrible manner, upon the arrival of 
the officials charged with the capture of 
Qualpopoca, who reached the capital after 
an absence of fifteen days. Before Monte- 
zuma, himself a captive, the recreant cacique 
was taken. He was richly clad, but covered 
his costly robes with coarser garments of 
aloe fibre, and put off his shoes, as he ap- 
peared before his sovereign. Montezuma 
received him coldly, and delivered him up to 
Cortes, to be dealt with as a traitor to his 
king, though the unfortunate cacique had 
merely obeyed orders sent from Mexico, to 
have ignored which would have cost his life. 
Qualpopoca, his son, and fifteen others 
with them received scant mercy at the hands 
of Cortes, who at once condemned them to 
death by burning at the stake. In the centre 
of the great plaza, a huge pile was made of 
the weapons found in the armories over the 
gateways. There were spears, javelins, bows, 
arrows — in fact, every sort of weapon known 
to the Aztecs, and, as they had been a long 
148 



MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 

while accumulating, the wood of which they 
were made was dry and inflammable. 

Soon the captives were enveloped in flames 
that leaped upward to the sky, sending huge 
volumes of smoke aloft, and proclaiming to 
the amazed inhabitants of Tenochtitlan an- 
other cruel deed committed by the invaders 
of their sacred capital. 

Many a victim had perished by fire before 
in that city of the holy teocallis. The act itself 
did not excite the horror of the Aztecs, but 
the motive that inspired it roused them to 
transports of wrath and indignation. Then 
they heard that not only was their beloved, 
revered sovereign a prisoner, but that he 
had been put in irons while the dreadful deed 
was being consummated. Fetters had been 
placed upon his ankles, by order of Cortes, 
who, when all was over, hastened to apolo- 
gize for this gratuitous affront. This act of 
his, in thus adding insult to deadly injury, 
seems incredible; but still more strange ap- 
pears the fact that according to eye-witness- 
es Montezuma fell upon his neck in the ex- 
tremity of his abasement and despair. He 
wept aloud, and to assuage his grief Cortes 
offered to allow him to return to his palace, 
knowing full well, however, that he would 
149 



HERNANDO CORTES 

not dare place himself within the power of 
his indignant and disgusted nobles. 

Montezuma was a prisoner, but he was al- 
lowed to wander at will throughout the pal- 
ace, into the streets and to the lakes, where 
he frequently went to fish for water-fowl. He 
also attended to the worship of his gods in 
the great temple; but he was constantly 
guarded by his captors. His favorite resort 
was the grove of Chapoltepec, where he went 
to hunt, and one day he was taken thither 
by Cortes, in one of the brigantines the Span- 
iards had constructed, having obtained the 
iron-work from Vera Cruz and timbers from 
the royal forests. 

Other amusements were provided for the 
captive monarch in order to divert his mind 
from dwelling upon his pitiable condition. A 
favorite game with him was that called 
totoloque, played with golden balls, two on 
a side: Montezuma, his nephew, Cortes, and 
Alvarado. When the Spaniards won they 
gave their winnings to the emperor's attend- 
ants, and when Montezuma was successful 
he bestowed his gains upon the soldiers of 
the guard. 

Still, despite the air of peace and pleasure 
within the palace walls, there was great com- 
150 



MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 

motion without. The crackling flames which 
had consumed the cacique and his friends, 
the billows of smoke from that fearful sacri- 
fice, and, above all, the restraining of Monte- 
zuma a prisoner in his own capital, made a 
deep impression upon the Aztecs. But, ac- 
customed to look to the emperor for com- 
mands, and by his imprisonment being made 
leaderless, they were for weeks and months 
uncertain what to do or how to act. This 
condition could not long exist, even in a 
country where the subjects were so abject- 
ly servile as in Mexico, for the Aztecs were 
brave to recklessness. 

A leader arose in the person of Cacamatzin, 
king of Tezcoco, the ancient city on the op- 
posite shore of the lake. This city was at 
one time a rival of the capital in all that 
makes for barbaric greatness, for it possessed 
temples and palaces, towers, gardens, and 
pyramids, the ruins of which have excited 
the wonder and admiration of modern ex- 
plorers. Its decay began during the reign 
of its last sovereign, Nezahualpilli, whose 
eldest son, Cacamatzin, came into the suc- 
cession at his death. The king of Tezcoco 's 
youngest son, Ixtlilxochitl, disputed the suc- 
cession with his brother, but was driven to 
" 151 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the mountains, where he intrenched himself 
with a large army. He was later of inesti- 
mable service to Cortes and the Spaniards 
during the siege of Mexico ; but at this stage 
of the drama had not made his appearance 
prominently. 

Having received information that his uncle, 
Montezuma, was a captive, and that the Span- 
iards had rifled the treasury of his ancestors, 
Cacamatzin sent word to the imprisoned sov- 
ereign that he should not forget he was a king, 
and if he persisted in allowing the strangers 
to rule him thus he had "no more spirit 
than a hen." This was true enough, but, 
though Montezuma allowed the Spaniards to 
rule him, he had by no means lost all prestige 
with his people. This he proved by effecting 
the capture of Cacamatzin in the same man- 
ner that he had compelled the unfortunate 
Qualpopoca to attend him at the capital 
and brought about his death. He gave to 
certain trusted officials the signet of the 
war-god, and they went secretly to Tezcoco, 
where they had the good -fortune to find 
Cacamatzin in conference with his chiefs in 
a kiosk bordering on the lake. By watching 
their opportunity they were enabled to drag 
him into their canoe, and then hastened 
152 



MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 

back to the capital, where the illustrious 
prisoner was delivered over to Montezuma. 
After giving him a lecture on the folly and 
wickedness of opposing the wishes of his 
sovereign, the servile monarch gave him into 
the hands of Cortes, who at once placed him 
in prison. There he remained in irons for 
months, subject to insult, and daily expect- 
ing death, finally perishing in the retreat from 
Mexico on the "sorrowful night" of disaster. 

We now see the triimiphant Cortes, as king- 
maker and friend of royalty, in undisputed 
possession of Mexico. He had its hereditary 
sovereign in his grasp, also its revenues and 
its tributary lords, for, besides unseating the 
king of Tezcoco, he had seized the prince of 
Tlacopan (lord of another strong city in the 
valley) and the high-priest of Tlatelolco. 

His next important step was to force from 
Montezuma an acknowledgment of allegiance 
and vassalage to Charles V., the emperor of 
Spain. Not alone from the pliant king, but 
from his nobles and the lords of distant prov- 
inces tributary to Mexico, was it his intention 
to exact homage and formal submission to 
the unknown sovereign of that far-distant 
land. For it was necessary that this should 
be done, in order to strengthen his cause at 
153 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the Spanish court and secure the counte- 
nance of royal approval to actions which had 
been without the sanction, hitherto, of any 
who ranked him as superiors in power, civil 
or military. 

The nobles yielded their allegiance to the 
new power, though reluctantly, with sighs 
and groans, weeping and lamentation, says 
an old historian. In their hearts they were 
unchanged, but they foresaw the downfall of 
their once mighty empire ; they felt the dis- 
grace attached to the enslavement of their 
sovereign, and they raged against the chains 
that he had assisted the Spaniards to forge 
upon their limbs. 

After power — ^which he now had in great 
measure — Cortes reckoned gold as the '' great- 
est thing in the world"; and his first act as 
virtual ruler of Mexico's destinies was to as- 
certain the location of Montezuma's mines, 
whence he drew the vast stores of precious 
metal he so lavishly squandered in the em- 
bellishment of his court and in gifts to the 
Spaniards. 

By means of accurate maps made in the 

hieroglyphics of picture-writing, Montezuma 

freely showed his friend the original source 

of all his treasures. From one (as was repre- 

154 



MONTEZUMA A PRISONER 

sented on the maps), he obtained the pre- 
cious trogon feathers ; from another, mother- 
of-pearl; from yet another, stores of precious 
woods and spices ; but that which interested 
the conqueror most was the picture - map 
showing the deposits of gold. Guided by 
messengers furnished by Montezuma, men 
deputed by Cortes to ascertain the extent of 
his golden treasure travelled in safety to the 
most distant provinces of Mexico, returning 
with substantial evidences of their richness 
and also with wonderful tales of adventure. 

This contribution from the rich mines and 
from the rivers with golden sands, added to 
the vast treasure obtained by the sacking 
of the palace, was almost incalculable. Yet 
it was freely offered by Montezuma as if of 
little value. ''Take it," he said to Cortes. 
"Take this gold, which is all I can collect at 
such short notice, and also that treasure 
which I derived from my ancestors, and 
send it to your sovereign, with the message 
that this is the tribute of his vassal Monte- 
zuma!" 

This gold from Montezuma (as stout old 
Bemal Diaz truly says) was "badly divided 
and worse employed," for many of the sol- 
diers, who had *'Hned their pockets well," 
155 



HERNANDO CORTES 

plunged into the Spanish diversion of gam- 
bling, and deep games went on by day and 
by night, with cards made from the heads of 
drums that had been worn out in service. 

Some of the captains had great chains of 
gold made for them by the king's artificers, 
and Cortes also indulged himself in this 
vanity, besides ordering a magnificent ser- 
vice of plate, some of which he afterwards 
left in Honduras. Little good was derived 
by the soldiers from their ill-gotten wealth, 
and the golden chains proved lures to de- 
struction, not long after, for other advent- 
urers from Cuba. 



XIII 

AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 
1520 

IF Cortes had been content with temporal 
dominion merely, all might have been 
well, at least for a while; but he was not 
satisfied while the worship of the Aztec gods 
went on openly in the teocallis and that of 
his own deity was conducted in secret. With 
a troop of soldiers one day he invaded the 
teocallis and threatened to sweep the idols 
from their thrones, but was temporarily 
pacified by the assignment of a sanctuary 
on the pyramid-top as a chapel for the Vir- 
gin. This place was cleansed, an altar and 
crucifix erected and left in charge of a dis- 
abled soldier, who kept his lonely vigils 
amid the priests and Aztec idols, who were 
anything but congenial company. 

In consequence of this invasion of the 
temple by Cortes (Montezuma soon assured 
him), the Aztec priests had received a mes- 
157 



HERNANDO CORTES 

sage from their gods threatening to leave 
them entirely at the mercy of the invaders 
unless the latter were immediately put to 
death. ''I find," said the emperor, ''that 
I am threatened [b^^ the priests] with the 
direst punishments of Heaven if I allow you 
to remain any longer in my kingdom; and 
such discontent already prevails among my 
nobles that, unless I quickly remove the 
cause, it will be altogether impossible to 
pacify them. Wherefore it has become 
necessary for my own safety, as well as for 
yours, and the good of all the kingdom, 
that you prepare at once to return to your 
native land!" 

This decision was communicated to Cortes 
more than six months after Montezuma had 
been made captive, or some time in May, 
1520, so the Spaniard could not complain of 
undue haste in the matter, yet he professed 
to be very much astonished. 

"I am surprised at what you say," he 
exclaimed; ''yet I have heard, and thank 
you much. Name a time when you wish 
us to depart, and so it shall be." 

"Take the time that seems to you neces- 
sary," rejoined the sovereign; "but do not 
delay without cause. Meanwhile, I will 
158 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

order that when you do go two loads of gold 
shall be given you, and a load for each of 
your companions." 

"I thank your majesty," said Cortes, in 
reply (having by this time invented an ex- 
cuse for delay), ''but you are already well 
aware how I destroyed my ships, when I 
first landed in your territory. So now we 
have need of others in order to return, and 
I beg that you will restrain your priests and 
warriors until I can build them. I should 
feel obliged, also, if you would loan me work- 
men to fell the trees and shape the timbers. 
I myself have ship-builders, and when the 
vessels are built we will take our departure." 

Montezuma willingly assented to this plan, 
and promptly ordered Aztec axemen sent to 
the coast at Vera Cruz, where, under the 
direction of a skilled shipwright, Martin 
Lopez (who had built the brigantines then 
on the lake), the work went on in good ear- 
nest. The ships were begun — of that there 
is Httle doubt; but Cortes had no intention 
to depart, and cast about for some other ex- 
cuse for remaining. His artful mind was 
resourceful in emergencies, and so he said: 
''Your majesty, there is one other thing of 
which, I presume, you are well aware. It is 
159 



HERNANDO CORTES 

this : when we go I shall be under the neces- 
sity of taking your majesty with us, in order 
to present you to my sovereign lord, the 
emperor of Spain." This proposition was 
by no means agreeable to Montezuma, and 
he became very pensive and sad ; but he did 
not long continue in this state, for he one 
day sent for Cortes, and informed him that 
there was now no necessity either for remain- 
ing longer or for building the ships. Then 
he spread before him a picture - chart that 
he had received by courier from the coast, 
upon which was plainly depicted a fleet of 
eighteen vessels recently arrived at Vera 
Cruz. ''Now, Malintzin," exclaimed the de- 
lighted Montezuma, "you can go at once, for 
here are ships enough to carry all." 

"Yes, and bless the great Redeemer for 
his mercies," answered Cortes, joyfully. But 
he knew that those eighteen ships had not 
come from Cuba without a purpose, and 
debated within himself what that purpose 
was. At first it was thought they contained 
reinforcements, and taking this view the 
Spaniards filled the city with the sounds of 
their rejoicings, discharging cannon, shout- 
ing, and firing off their arquebuses. 

These eleven ships and seven brigantines, 
i6o 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

containing 1400 soldiers and a vast quantity 
of munitions, had been sent by Governor 
Velasquez, of Cuba, and, consequently, were 
not intended for the assistance of Cortes, 
but for his subjection. The expedition was 
commanded by one Panfilo de Narvaez, a 
companion of Velasquez, and he had in- 
structions to overcome Cortes and take him 
to Cuba, dead or alive ; though it made little 
difference which, for he was to be executed, 
on arrival there, as a rebel, a traitor to his 
king and to Velasquez, 

Montezuma was informed as to the true 
purport of this expedition, as was made ap- 
parent by his changed demeanor, and the 
insolence of the priests and nobles increased 
to such an extent that the Spaniards be- 
came greatly alarmed, "expecting every 
moment to be attacked." Their fears were 
justified, according to Dona Marina, who 
was familiar with the attendants at court, 
and by the terror and tears of little Ortego, 
a Spanish lad to whom Montezuma had be- 
come attached, and who served him as page 
and interpreter. Though intrenched within 
the massive walls of the great palace, with 
cannon commanding the gates and sentinels 
pacing the battlements, the Spanish soldiers 
161 



HERNANDO CORTES 

never slept except in their armor; their 
steeds were always saddled, with bridles on 
the pommels, and every man was prepared 
for the worst. 

Cortes called a council of his officers, and, 
as his wont was when in trouble, he distrib- 
uted gifts among the men as well as prom- 
ises. He flattered his brave veterans by 
telling them that they were equal to ten 
times their number of opponents, whatever 
they were, and wherever they met them; so 
he set forth, with but 200 soldiers, all told, 
to meet and conquer Narvaez with quite six 
times as many. 

It is not quite fair to Narvaez to state that 
Cortes went to oppose him with a far inferior 
force (and, as the short sequel will show, 
defeated him), for he had already sent the 
Rev. Father Olmedo, armed with a most 
potent weapon for creating defection in 
the invader's ranks. That weapon was gold 
(of which the real owners, the veterans, 
had been so unjustly deprived), and the 
reverend father used it to such good effect, 
together with the persuasive influence of his 
oily tongue, that he really won the battle for 
Cortes before it was fought. The command- 
er himself had done something with the gold- 
162 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

en weapon, also, as will appear. It seems 
that Captain Sandoval (at Villa Rica), when 
summoned to surrender by some emissaries 
of Narvaez, not only refused, but bagged 
the messengers up in nets, and, placing 
them on the backs of Indian carriers, sent 
them to the city of Mexico. Theirs was 
a most wonderful journey: carried all the 
way, more than 200 miles, on the backs of 
Indians, passed from one to another, ever 
without rest, and they arrived at the capital 
nearly dead. Cortds professed great sorrow 
for the act of his captain, Sandoval, and 
having shown the messengers from Narvaez 
the treasure he had accumulated, and be- 
stowed a goodly portion upon them, as a 
salve for their injuries, he sent them back 
to the coast, his friends and ardent partisans. 
When, therefore — after leaving the gar- 
rison in charge of Alvarado — Cortes started 
for the coast with 200 men, he had, in ef- 
fect, secured 1000 more by means of his 
gold. Still it was a most venturesome un- 
dertaking, which none but the bravest of 
men would have attempted. The distance 
which intervened between the capital and 
the coast was covered quickly by forced 
marches, and in due time Cortes and his in- 
163 



HERNANDO CORTES 

vincible veterans arrived at Totonac terri- 
tory, where they camped, almost within sight 
of Cempoalla. 

Cortes and Father Olmedo had accom- 
plished wonders with their gold, and if the 
stern Narvaez had not been incorruptible 
there is no knowing but that he himself 
might have been won over and the shameful 
strife between the Spaniards averted. But 
Narvaez was bent upon securing Cortes, 
whom, he swore by his beard, he would 
march against "with fire, sword, and a free 
rope." He then posted his artillery, cav- 
alry, and infantry in a plain a few miles dis- 
tant from Cempoalla, but a terrible storm 
coming up towards night, he and his inex- 
perienced soldiers sought shelter in the Toto- 
nac city, where he occupied one of the tem- 
ples. When the fat cacique of Cempoalla 
saw how carelessly the guards were posted, 
he said to Narvaez: "Huh! What are you 
doing? Do you think Malintzin and his 
teules are careless, like you ? I tell you that 
when you least expect it, he will come upon 
you and put you all to death! ..." 

Narvaez laughed lightly, but he heeded 
the warning, and placed eighteen guns in 
line before the building selected as his quar- 
164 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

ters, posted a grand guard of forty cavalry 
in the forest, twenty of whom were to patrol 
during the night, and then retired to shelter. 
He promised a reward of 2000 crowns for 
Cortes or Sandoval; but this was an occa- 
sion, most certainly, of ''first catch your 
hare." 

In a speech before the battle, Cortes said 
to his men: "I must remind you how often 
you all have been at the point of death, in 
various wars and battles, how we have suf- 
fered from fatigue and hunger, sleeping on 
the ground, on our arms; not to mention 
above forty of our number dead, and your 
own wounds as yet unhealed; our sufferings 
by sea and land ; the perils of Tabasco, Tlas- 
cala, and Cholula, where the vessels were pre- 
pared in which we were to have been boiled ; 
and our perilous entry into Mexico. And 
now, gentlemen, Narvaez comes and maligns 
and asperses us with the great Montezuma, 
and immediately on landing proclaims war 
against us with fire, sword, and free rope, as 
if we were infidel Moors!" 

The attack was made at midnight, a fitting 

hour for such a battle as ensued, between 

men of the same nationality, who should have 

been united against the common enemy. 

165 



HERNANDO CORTES 

The storm was at its height, and the soldiers 
of Narvaez, snug in their quarters, were 
taken by surprise. Suddenly they heard, 
borne by the shrieking gale, high above the 
roar of the tropical tempest, the battle-cry, 
"Santiago!" and the countersign of Cor 1 6s: 
''Espiritu Santo! Espiritu Santo!" Despite 
the fearful odds against them, the veterans 
swept with the storm upon the legions of 
Narvaez, charged up to the cannons' mouths 
without a pause, and drove the cavalry 
back upon the temples, from which the in- 
fantry now swarmed down into the plazas 
like hornets from their nests. . . . Brave San- 
doval took the guns before half of them had 
been discharged; Pizarro, with a handful of 
lancers, supported him so effectually that 
they were soon turned upon their former 
owners ; and Cortes himself, fighting with the 
fury of a demon, animated his band with the 
energy of despair. He and his men could 
expect nothing but death in case they were 
defeated, while the soldiers of Narvaez were 
themselves hopeful of greater rewards under 
Cortes than with their leader, and fought 
half-heartedly. The temples had been forced 
and a sanguinary conflict was going on 
around their terraced slopes (down which, 
i66 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

not many months before, Cortes had tum- 
bled the Cempoallan idols), when the voice 
of Narvaez shrieked out: " Santa Maria, help! 
They have struck out one of my eyes!" 

Then a great shout went up. ''Victory! 
Victory for the Espiritu Santo! Narvaez is 
dead ! Live our King and Cortes ! Narvaez 
is dead! . . ." 

As the cry increased in volume and spread 
through Cempoalla, the soldiers of Narvaez 
cast down their arms and submitted, in 
groups and by hundreds. The victory of 
the few over the many had been won, and 
hardly had daylight appeared ere the former 
foes of Cortes were hastening to enlist be- 
neath his banner. 

Seated within a temple on the plaza, an 
orange-colored mantle draping his shoulders, 
his sword by his side, and surrounded by his 
valiant officers, Cortes "received the saluta- 
tions of the cavaliers, who, as they dis- 
mounted, came to kiss his hand. And it 
was wonderful to see the affability and the 
kindness with which he spoke to and em- 
braced them, and the compliments which he 
made to them; for among the number were 
many influential friends of Velasquez, now 
completely won over to the cause of his dead- 
ly 167 



HERNANDO CORTES 

ly enemy." During all this time, and even 
before the arrival of the cavalry, the drums, 
fifes, and timbrels of the army of Narvaez 
never ceased, having struck up at daybreak 
in honor of Cort6s, without a command from 
any one. 

One of them, a negro and a comical fel- 
low, danced and shouted for joy, crying 
out, " Where are the Romans who with such 
small numbers ever achieved such a glorious 
victory?" Another of those who were equal- 
ly ready to shout for Cortes as for Narvaez, 
though they had come into Mexico with the 
latter, was our old friend Cervantes, the 
jester, the same who had cautioned Velas- 
quez against the ambitions of the very man 
who had won this wonderful victory. 

The unlucky Narvaez, whose right eye had 
been torn out by a spear-thrust, and who 
was in great agony, said to Cortes, as he 
came in to view his prisoner, " Senor Captain, 
appreciate as it merits your good-fortune in 
having defeated me." Cortes answered that 
his thanks were due to God and to his val- 
iant soldiers; but this was the least of his 
and their achievements since their arrival in 
New Spain (or Mexico). This may sound 
like boasting, and the taunting of an unfort- 
i68 



AN INVASION BY NARVAEZ 

unate opponent, and so it was. The Nar- 
vaez people were greatly ashamed of the 
part they had played in the affair, and some 
of them sought to excuse their cowardice by 
putting forth a singular statement. In the 
midnight darkness, they said, with only now 
and then the fitful light of the moon shin- 
ing through the storm clouds, they had mis- 
taken the myriads of fire -flies, sporting in 
the forest and above the meadows, for so 
many soldiers with lighted matchlocks in 
their hands. 



XIV 

THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 
1520 

CORTES was now universally recognized 
as the greatest man in Mexico — in 
America. By the victory which he had 
wrested from threatened defeat, he found 
himself in command of a total force of nearly 
1500 men, including ninety cavalry and 1000 
infantry. He detached from his force those 
most likely to cause trouble, and sent them 
off to colonize along the coast, while with 
his usual promptness he prepared to explore 
the unknown regions to the northward and 
southward. 

He had distributed bribes and gifts to the 
new-comers with a free hand, leaving his 
veterans with almost nothing. Indeed, he 
even compelled them to return the horses, 
arms, and armor of which they had despoiled 
the enemy, replying to their indignant pro- 
tests that, inasmuch as the men of Narvaez 
170 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

were still more numerous than themselves, 
it was policy to placate them with these 
gifts, especially as they would soon be fight- 
ing with them against the Mexicans. Little 
thought Cortes, however, of what was in 
store for him and them respecting the re- 
ception that enemy had prepared for their 
return. Scarcely had he begun to reduce 
order from the chaotic conditions which 
succeeded to the fight at Cempoalla, than 
messengers arrived, both from Montezuma 
and Alvarado, with a story of disaster for 
which he was quite unprepared. A terrible 
massacre had been committed, 600 Mexican 
nobles having been slain, and as a con- 
sequence the capital was ablaze with the 
fires of a popular insurrection. Alvarado, 
who had been a favorite with Montezuma, 
second only to Cortes himself, and to whom 
the emperor had given the Mexican name of 
Tonatiuh, or the Sun-faced Man, on account 
of his ruddy complexion, red hair, and sunny 
disposition, was also a trusted friend of 
Cortes, sharing his energy of character, but 
without his discretion and judgment. While 
Cortes was battling for his life in Vera Cruz, 
Alvarado was approached by some of the 
nobles and priests with the request that 
171 



HERNANDO CORTES 

they be permitted to celebrate the feast 
of their war -god by their customary cere- 
monies in the great court of the palace in 
which the Spaniards were quartered. It fell 
due in the month of May, and as their king 
had always taken part in this festival, by 
dancing with the nobles, they also requested 
that he be allowed to do so now. 

Alvarado refused permission for Monte- 
zuma to join them in the festival, but he al- 
lowed them to assemble for the purpose in 
the great court-yard, which was usually oc- 
cupied by the Tlascalan alHes. There they 
gathered, in their richest garbs and wearing 
their most valuable ornaments. The}'- were 
unarmed, and probably had no evil inten- 
tions towards the Spaniards; but while in 
the midst of their ceremonials, and utter- 
ly defenceless, they were attacked by Alva- 
rado 's soldiers. The terrible massacre at 
Cholula was here repeated; only in this in- 
stance there was not the shadow of an ex- 
cuse for the act, except for the whispered 
suspicions of the Tlascalans, who reported 
that the nobles had secreted their weapons 
outside the walls of the palace and planned 
to raise an insurrection of the people. 

The excuse that Alvarado gave, when 
172 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

sternly brought to account by Cortes, was 
that he had suspicion of their hostile inten- 
tions, and so put them to the sword, having 
in mind that ''the first attack is half the 
battle." In this instance it was the whole 
of it, for not a soul was left of that band of 
nobles, the ''flower of Mexican aristocracy." 
Whatever may have been Alvarado's mo- 
tive for this massacre, he and his fellow-mur- 
derers did not fail to strip the bodies of the 
slain, reaping a rich though blood-stained har- 
vest of jewels. Avarice probably prompted 
him to his horrible deed, which, as Cortes 
sternly told him, was that of a madman. 
After all was over, after the dead nobles had 
been pillaged and thrust without the walls, 
the city for a space was ominously silent. 
Then the infuriated populace dashed against 
the palace walls, like the waves of ocean in a 
storm. Though beaten back again and again 
by the deadly fire of musketry and artillery, 
they breached the defences, and might have 
captured the palace by brute force had not 
Montezuma appeared on the battlements. 
He addressed the enraged people, praying 
them to desist, and they so far respected his 
wishes as to retire, but only changed their 
tactics, without abating their fury in the 
173 



HERNANDO CORTES 

least, by throwing tip barricades, and so 
closely investing the palace that not one of 
its inmates could escape. 

This was the condition of affairs in Mexico 
when Cortes arrived at the causeway leading 
to the capital, over which he had marched 
in triumph seven months before. It was 
June 24, 1520, that he made his second en- 
try; but this time what a contrast was af- 
forded to his first reception! For the great 
causeway, throughout its entire length, was 
entirely deserted, and only a few Indians 
were visible, standing silently in the door- 
ways of their houses, and scowling fiercely 
at the conqueror, whom they had previously 
received with rejoicings. Strangely enough, 
though the Aztecs were aware of his coming, 
they had not offered to impede his progress 
by raising the bridges or obstructing the 
causeway, and the troop marched swiftly 
to the central square, where, the besiegers 
yielding sullenly before them, they found 
the gates of the palace closed and not a 
Spaniard visible. At last, Alvarado ap- 
peared, and, learning from the lips of Cort6s 
that he was still in supreme command, or- 
dered the gates thrown open to his country- 
men and their allies. 

174 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

Scant time was afforded them for greet- 
ings or congratulations, since the Mexicans 
had retired only temporarily, in order to 
admit the reinforcements into the trap they 
had set for their destruction. They could 
easil}^ have prevented them from entering 
the city; but they chose, rather, to get the 
hated invaders together and then over- 
whelm them in a resistless attack. The city 
contained at least 300,000 people, perhaps 
one -fifth that number being warriors who 
were ready to sacrifice their lives in an 
attempt to destroy the Spaniards utterly. 
Against this vast though untrained and ir- 
regular force, Cortes could oppose less than 
1800 armed soldiers and 8000 native allies, 
chiefly Tlascalan warriors. 

Against mere numbers, Cortes felt him- 
self invincible; but the Mexicans had sum- 
moned an ally that could reduce the stoutest 
force and largest army to terms. This ally 
was famine. All the besiegers had to do 
was to cut off the supply of food and water, 
and time would perform the rest. When 
Cortes learned that the great market was 
closed, and that supplies no longer came in, 
he sent a threatening message to Monte- 
zuma, who replied that he could do nothing, 
175 



HERNANDO CORTES 

being a prisoner, but suggested the release 
of his brother, Cuitlahuatzin, lord of Izta- 
palapan, whq could then use his authority. 
Immediately on entering the city, Cortes 
had been informed that Montezuma sent his 
congratulations and was awaiting him in 
the court. But the conqueror, having a 
suspicion that the deposed monarch had 
been treating with Narvaez, angrily ex- 
claimed: "Away with him, the dog! What 
have I to do with him?" The remark being 
repeated to Montezuma, he was deeply 
grieved; but his revenge came swiftly, for, 
upon the release of Cuitlahuatzin, the people 
thereby secured what they had hitherto 
la(^ked — a leader. Instead of opening the 
market and sending supplies to the Span- 
iards, the wily Aztec organized and armed 
his warriors so rapidly that the next morn- 
ing they stormed the Spanish quarters by 
thousands. 

Convinced that in releasing the powerful 
Aztec prince he had committed an error 
fatal to his safety, Cortes did what he could 
to repair it by ordering a foray by 400 
men, who were drawn into an ambuscade 
and compelled to retreat, with a loss of 
twenty -three killed and many wounded. 
^ 176 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

The thronging warriors pursued the Span- 
iards to the gates, and sent into the courts 
of the palace such a tempest of darts and 
arrows, great stones and javeHns, that cart- 
loads of these rude but effective weapons 
were afterwards collected. Flaming arrows 
set the palace roof on fire. A breach was 
opened in the wall, and through it the Mexi- 
cans poured like a flood, which was only- 
stayed by the incessant play of cannon and 
musketry. 

All through the night the wearied Span- 
iards worked at repairing the openings made 
by the Aztecs in their fortification, and at 
daylight of the second morning were called 
upon to repel yet other hordes of warriors, 
who came on regardless of the gaps made 
in their ranks by the fire - arms. In such 
dense masses they pressed forward that 
the gunners had no occasion to take aim, 
for the}^ could not miss, fire where they 
would. 

While the swarming warriors battled in 
the streets and squares, other thousands 
covered the azoteas, or flat roof-tops, of 
structures surrounding the palace, and pour- 
ed into its courts a plunging rain of missiles, 
killing some and wounding a great number, 
177 



HERNANDO CORTES 

both of the Spaniards and Tlascalans. The 
genius of Cortes set itself to combat this new 
evil, and he caused to be constructed three 
large military machines, called manias, hke 
movable fortresses or castles, each one 
mounted on wheels and defended by twenty 
soldiers. These manias were pierced with 
port-holes for cannon and loop-holes for ar- 
quebuses and cross-bows; but, when pushed 
out of the gateway and against the walls, they 
soon failed of their purpose, as the Aztecs 
tumbled down huge stones from the roof- 
tops, which crushed not only the frail tim- 
bers of which they were made, but the valiant 
soldiers beneath them. 

While every man of the garrison acted the 
part of a hero, compelled thereto by the des- 
perate nature of the situation, the animat- 
ing spirit of the company was stout Cortes 
himself, who was at the front in every ad- 
venture, exposing himself with a reckless 
disregard of life excelled only by the Aztecs 
themselves. On the third day, after the 
failure of the attack with the manias (which 
were finally abandoned in the plaza), Cortes 
led another charge with his cavalry down 
the great street of Tlacopan. The instant 
his cavalcade emerged from the palace gate- 
178 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

way it was set upon by the swarming war- 
riors, who surrounded it on every side. The 
horses were unable to keep their footing on 
the slippery pavement of the plaza, and 
several of them were soon cut down, and 
their riders either killed or borne away cap- 
tive to the great temple for sacrifice. Cortes 
was compelled to sound the retreat; but 
just as he turned back he caught a glimpse 
of his friend, Duero, desperately fighting 
against great odds, and at once dashed to 
his rescue, shouting his battle-cry of "San- 
tiago!" He scattered the crowd of Aztecs 
by the fury of his charge, and assisting 
Duero to mount his horse (from which he 
had been dragged by his assailants), he led 
the way back to the troop, and finally re- 
gained the palace court safe and sound, 
though greatly exhausted. 

The Mexicans fighting under Cuitlahuat- 
zin had done what no other opponents of 
the Spaniards in America had accomplished 
before : they had compelled them to retreat. 
The prestige attaching to their name and 
deeds was destroyed, and the Aztecs no 
longer feared them as immortals whom 
their weapons could not kill. They had re- 
solved to crush the Spaniards by mere weight 
179 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of numbers hurled upon them in impene- 
trable masses. Many individuals of those 
masses would fall, never to rise again; but 
the work of destruction would go on until 
not an invader remained. 

They fought for the glory of their war-god, 
who, they cried out to the Spaniards, in the 
thick of battle and in the night-watches 
(when they ceased from fighting), was tired 
of waiting for his victims. '* But the gods 
have delivered you, at last, into our hands!" 
they shouted. "The stone of sacrifice is 
ready. The knives of iztli are sharpened. 
The wild beasts of the temple are waiting 
to devour you! The great serpent-drum will 
soon proclaim your fate to others yet to be 
devoured!" 

The great temple, the teocalli, was the 
actual centre of attack on the part of the 
Spaniards and of defence by the Mexicans. 
It towered above the palace of Axayacatl, 
but on the opposite side of the plaza, to a 
height, inckiding the towers in which the 
gods were housed, of nearly 150 feet. Five 
or six hundred Mexican warriors had taken 
their stand upon the summit - platform of 
the teocalli, where they had fortified them- 
selves, and from which point of vantage 
180 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

they poured down a perfect deluge of great 
stones, darts, arrows — missiles of every 
sort. 

As they commanded the entire area of 
the palace, its open courts, battlements, 
and all approaches, the Spanish position 
was becoming untenable, and Cortes or- 
dered 100 of his best soldiers to storm the 
temple and dislodge the warriors. They 
made three different attempts to do so, but 
were driven back in confusion, and he re- 
solved to lead the assault in person; for, if 
the Aztecs were not driven off, the Spaniards 
must retreat or be destroyed. He was al- 
ready suffering from a severe wound in his 
left hand, but he lashed his shield to arm 
and wrist, and, flourishing his sword, called 
for volimteers to follow him to what ap- 
peared to be certain death for all. 

The gates were thrown open and the cav- 
aliers charged into the square ; but the pave- 
ments were now so slippery with blood that 
the horses fell repeatedly, and so were sent 
back, while the dismounted riders pursued 
their way on foot. There were 300 of 
them, led by Cortes, closely followed by 
his bravest cavaliers, such as Alvarado, 
Sandoval, and Ordaz. They were supported 
181 



HERNANDO CORTES 

by a troop of infantry, and by 3000 Tlas- 
calans, who held the gathering crowds of 
Aztecs in check while the swordsmen and 
arquebusiers sprang up the terraced slopes. 
Five times they were compelled to pass 
around the pyramid, fighting from one ter- 
race to another, before they gained the ele- 
vated platform in mid-air, where were gath- 
ered the Mexican priests and nobles. 

" From the steps of the great temple they 
opposed us in front" (says a participant in 
this, the bloodiest battle of the war), "and 
we were attacked by such numbers on both 
sides that, although our guns swept off ten 
or fifteen at each discharge, and in each at- 
tack of our infantry we killed as many with 
our swords, we could not make any effectual 
impression or ascend the steps. Here Cortes 
showed himself the man that he really was. 
What a desperate engagement we then had! 
Every man of us was covered with blood, and 
above forty were left dead upon the spot." 

Furious at this attack upon their sanc- 
tuary, the Mexicans rallied about their im- 
perilled nobles in vast numbers. Four or 
five thousand rushed into the surrounding 
enclosure and up the steps of the pyramid, 
defending it with lances, slings, and javelins. 
182 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

But it was of no avail. The mail-clad 
warriors, in their armor of impenetrable steel, 
bore everything before them, and, though 
three hours elapsed before this dreadful con- 
flict ended, they finally succeeded in setting 
fire to the temples of the gods. Two or 
three priests alone survived of the Mexicans, 
more than 500 having been slain in that 
battle in the air, while fifty Spaniards were 
killed, and nearly all of the gallant band 
covered with wounds. 

Cortes himself had a narrow escape from 
death when two stalwart savages endeavored 
to drag him over the edge of the precipitous 
platform ; but he shook them off by a mighty 
effort, and they lost their lives, without 
recompense, for their heroic action. Many a 
man, Aztec as well as Spaniard, had pre- 
ceded them down the steep slopes of the 
pyramid, meeting death among the fighting 
hordes below; and many thousands more 
had gone that way, victims of barbarian 
sacrifice, during the years of Aztec domina- 
tion. Down these same steps, or terraces, 
the Aztec priests were wont to tumble the 
headless carcasses of the war-god's victims 
— whether of young men taken in battle or 
maidens in the bloom of youth — whose hearts 

'3 183 



HERNANDO CORTES 

had first been offered to the grim Huitzilo- 
pochtH. 

No more of these sacrifices were to be 
made before him now, as he was soon dis- 
lodged from his high place in the temple- 
tower and sent headlong to the base of the 
pyramid, while the oratory in which he was 
enshrined, its walls bespattered with human 
gore, went up in flames, that proclaimed to 
all around the Spaniards' victory. Cortes 
thought that by showing the Aztecs the im- 
potency of their gods he might win them 
over to his side, or at least lead them to ab- 
jure their idols ; but the effect of their war- 
god's downfall was only to increase their 
rage and hate. They stubbornly disputed his 
passage back to the palace, though many of 
their chiefs were slain in the fight on the 
pyramid ; and they replied to his arguments, 
later, that though he had destroyed their 
temples, disfigured their gods, and massacred 
their countrymen, they were content, so long 
as they were sure of their revenge. ''Our 
only sorrow is," they said, " that there will be 
too few of you left to satisfy the vengeance 
of our gods. . . . You must soon fall into our 
hands, for your provisions are failing; and, 
moreover, the bridges are broken dowUy and 
184 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

you cannot escape!'' This was the answer 
returned to Cortes when, having called a 
conference of the few remaining nobles, he 
tried to arrange terms for peace. The in- 
domitable Aztecs would not listen to talk of 
peace ; their united voice was for war, bitter 
war, to the end. 

They had not only hunger and consuming 
thirst to fight, but still the dauntless enemy, 
for when they had gained their quarters they 
found them almost in possession of the 
Aztecs, who had again broken down the 
walls and were swarming into the palace, 
like wolves into a sheepfold. These were 
driven out, but the next morning the con- 
flict was renewed with redoubled ferocity, 
and they succeeded in penetrating as far as 
the great court, where the Spaniards fought 
them hand to hand. Finally expelled from 
the palace, leaving behind them hundreds 
of dead and wounded, the enemy repeated- 
ly stormed the walls, set fire to the roof of 
the building, and showered upon its inmates 
countless missiles — arrows, stones, and darts. 

Cortes had scorned and instilted the Aztec 

sovereign; he had made him appear an 

enemy of his own people, had deprived him 

of liberty and all his treasures; yet so des- 

185 



HERNANDO CORTES 

perate was the situation that he sent for 
Montezuma, and humbly desired him to show 
himself upon the battlements and beg his 
countrymen to desist from their attacks. 
The dejected king replied to the message: 
"What have I to do with Malintzin? I 
desire neither to hear him, nor to live any 
longer, since it is on his account I am re- 
duced to this unhappy fate!" 

At length he yielded, and went out upon 
the azote a, attended by some soldiers, who 
held their shields ready to protect him as he 
addressed the people. The chiefs and nobles, 
as soon as their former lord and master ap- 
peared, commanded their troops to refrain 
from fighting, and, the tumult having abated, 
the multitude awaited what he had to tell 
them. Many were on their knees, doing 
homage to the once-mighty one, as he, in 
faltering accents, requested them to disperse 
to their homes, and pledged his word that 
the Spaniards would retire from the city. 

Four of the principal nobility, who had 
advanced in front of the others, then inter- 
rupted him, saying that they had raised his 
brother to the throne made vacant by his 
action in choosing to associate with the in- 
vaders, whom they had solemnly promised 
i86 



THE SPANIARDS MEET WITH DISASTER 

their gods never to cease fighting until they 
were utterly destroyed. But they added 
that they daily prayed for his safety and de- 
liverance, and should never cease to venerate 
him as their priest and king. 

It was evident to the populace, however, 
that he was no longer held in veneration, and 
they showed their change of attitude by a 
shower of stones and arrows, which flew like 
hail about the person of his majesty. The 
attendant soldiers, who had relaxed their 
vigilance, hastened to interpose their shields ; 
but it was too late. He was thrice wounded, 
and by a stone which struck him on the 
temple rendered unconscious, in which con- 
dition he was borne to his quarters, where 
he lingered a few days, then expired. 

"Cortes and our captains wept for him," 
wrote one of the Spaniards who knew him, 
"and he was lamented by them and all the 
soldiers who had known him as if he had 
been their father ; nor is it to be wondered at, 
considering how good he was." Still, he 
was as surely murdered by the Spaniards as 
if they had driven a dagger into his breast. 
They were impressed, not so much by his 
goodness as by his generosity. 



XV 

THE MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 
1520 

MONTEZUMA died on June 29th or 
L 30th. His body was given in charge 
of the Mexican nobles, who burned it to 
ashes and interred the sacred dust at Cha- 
poltepec. Their lamentations could be heard 
by the Spaniards; but neither party spent 
much time in openly mourning the great 
departed, and the terrible contest went on 
almost without cessation. 

It became apparent to Cortes that his 
position was no longer tenable, and he re- 
solved upon retreat. To remain was cer- 
tain death ; to retreat was fraught with dan- 
ger; but there was a chance for some to 
escape with their lives. In pursuance of 
this intention, he ordered freqtient sallies 
from the palace into the great square, and 
along the causeway leading to Tacuba, 
Many houses bordering the causeway were 
188 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

burned and the gaps caused by the removal 
of the bridges were filled with their debris. 
These gaps, however, were immediately re- 
opened as soon as the Spaniards had retired, 
and Cortes found himself foiled at every 
point. It was evident that not only were 
the Aztecs superior in numbers, but also in 
strategy, for they had, by a subterfuge, ob- 
tained possession of their high -priest, or 
teoteuctli (who had been taken prisoner in 
the fight at the temple), and with his aid 
had crowned Cuitlahuatzin king. He was 
the next in succession ; but Cortes had aimed 
at placing either a son or nephew of Monte- 
zuma upon the throne, and was greatly 
chagrined at his double defeat. 

The Mexicans gave the Spaniards two days 
more to live, threatening at the end of that 
time to carry their fortress by assault, at 
whatever cost of life to them. Their num- 
bers were increased by accessions from out- 
side the capital, and their repeated attacks 
were as vigorous as at first ; while the Span- 
iards were already weak from hunger and 
half dead from exhaustion, being compelled 
to constant vigila^nce, without time for rest 
or sleep. Within two days of Montezuma's 
demise, preparations were hurried forward 
189 



HERNANDO CORTES 

for departure. The causeway leading to 
Tacuba was selected as the route of retreat, 
being the shortest road to the main-land. 
As all the bridges across its canals had 
been destroyed, Cortes ordered a pontoon of 
wood to be constructed, which was placed in 
charge of fifty picked soldiers, all bound by 
oath to die rather than desert it, and 400 
Tlascalans. There were three canals, and 
(as the sequel showed) three pontoons should 
have been provided. But for this oversight, 
hundreds of lives might have been saved, 
which were lost on the night of the re- 
treat. Another mistake, and the greatest of 
all, was the choosing of night-time for re- 
tiring from the city. This was contrary to 
the dictates of military strategy, and was 
owing to superstition, which, as we know, 
was rife among that band of fanatical Span- 
iards. 

It was just before midnight, July ist, that 
the palace gates were thrown open and the 
little army emerged to begin the perilous 
passage of the causeway. The vanguard was 
in command of Sandoval, whose courage had 
often been tried; the rear-guard was under 
Alvarado and Velasquez de Leon, both val- 
iant soldiers ; while the centre was in charge 
190 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

of Cortes, who had a general supervision of 
the whole. They crossed the plaza in safety, 
but not in silence, owing to the rumble of 
the artillery and the clang of iron hoofs on 
the pavement. Still, no Aztecs showed 
themselves, and they were beginning to hope 
for a safe departure by the time the first 
canal was reached. Here the pontoon was 
fixed in position, and was safely crossed by 
the vanguard, the artillery, the first division 
of Tlascalans, the officials in charge of the 
king's gold, the prisoners, and most of the 
baggage. 

Before departure, Cort6s had divided 
Montezuma's treasure, intrusting the " king's 
fifth" to the proper officers, and had then 
given permission to his soldiers to carry off 
the remainder, at the same time warning 
them of the danger they incurred in assum- 
ing too large a burden. The avarice of many 
tempted them to lade themselves with the 
treasure, and few of these escaped the perils 
of that night of disaster. 

It was while the bridge was being placed 
across the first canal that the Aztecs made 
their enemies aware that their movements 
were observed. The alarm was given by sen- 
tinels stationed at the canal, and taken up 
191 



HERNANDO CORTES 

by the priests watching on the teocalli, who 
proclaimed it to all the people by blowing 
horns and sounding the great drum of ser- 
pent-skin above the war-god's altar. *' Tlal- 
tehdcol tlaltelulco r' they shouted. ''Out 
with the canoes; for the teules are going; 
they are going; attack them at the canals'." 
Instantly, as though they had been evoked 
by enchanters' wands, arose most fearful 
apparitions on every side: from the lake, 
from canoes, from the canal, hurrying from 
the city streets; and a hail-storm of stones, 
arrows, darts, and burning-brands fell upon 
the heads of that devoted band huddled on 
the narrow causeway. 

The vanguard dashed forward, only to be 
halted by the second canal; the rear-guard 
made the best resistance possible, but it was 
overwhelmed by the multitude of its enemies ; 
and between these two divisions were crowd- 
ed cavalry, infantry, Tlascalans, prisoners, 
artillery — a confused, disorganized mass — 
the animate portion of which was completely 
at the mercy of the infuriated Aztecs, who 
slaughtered at will, and sated to the full their 
craving for blood and revenge. 

The pontoon was so wedged in position 
that it could not be moved, so the second 
192 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

canal was crossed without it. How, none 
but the great All-seeing One can tell. The 
Spaniards knew not how they got across — 
such few as escaped — ^but it was mainly upon 
the corpses of slain men and horses, mingled 
with maimed and dying comrades, artillery, 
treasure-boxes, and the like. At the third 
canal it was the same, except that the hor- 
rible bridge was composed of human corpses, 
mostly, and the writhing bodies of the 
wounded. 

And on every side the gloating, fiercely 
exultant Aztecs were hewing at the defence- 
less throng with their great obsidian broad- 
swords, piercing the shrinking prisoners and 
the raging soldiers aHke with lances, show- 
ering upon them darts, arrows, stones — every 
sort of missile-weapon they could lay their 
hands to, in the darkness of that terrible 
night. 

They who were killed outright met the 
most merciful fate, for it was reserved for 
those who were made prisoners, whether 
wounded or not, to be sacrificed before the 
terrible war-god. After the first alarm was 
given, the great serpent-drum was silent for 
a space ; then its horrifying boom resounded 
again above all other sounds, at intervals, 
193 



HERNANDO CORTES 

giving notice that upon the Sacrificial Stone 
was stretched a prisoner, whose palpitating 
heart was that instant being torn from his 
breast. This assurance spurred on the Aztecs 
to fierce energy, and the causeway was en- 
closed between double and triple ranks of 
canoes, into which were dragged such vic- 
tims as could be reached, who were instantly 
hurried off to the temple of sacrifice. 

Imagine all these dreadful scenes trans- 
piring on a night of pitchy darkness, made 
more miserable (if that were possible) by a 
drizzling rain, from the mists of which above 
the surrounding lake emerged those de- 
moniac figures, which slashed and slew, and 
disappeared again with shrieking prisoners 
in their grasp. What wonder that the ter- 
rors of that night of black despair have sur- 
vived through centuries of change in Mexico, 
and that ever since they have served to re- 
call the vengeance of the Aztecs. The re- 
treat of the "sorrowful night" — la noche 
triste — has long since passed into history; 
but traditions of its terrors still remain with 
the people of Mexico. 

In the little village of Popotla, near to 
Tacuba, still stands a venerable cypress-tree, 
a giant of a gigantic family, beneath which, 
194 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

it is said, Cortes sat awhile, in the gray dawn 
of the morning succeeding to that awful night, 
and wept over the loss of his army. 

"In Tacuba was Cortes, 

With many a gallant chief; 
He thought upon his losses, 
And bowed his head in grief." 

Most of the vanguard escaped, some of the 
centre, and among them their commander, 
and finally a few of the rear-guard ; but fully 
one -third the Spanish force had been de- 
stroyed, or more than 500; 4000 Tlascalans, 
and all the prisoners, included among the 
latter being three children of Montezuma, 
Cacamatzin, and several caciques of note. 
Among those who escaped were the inter- 
preters, Aguilar and Malinche, who were 
saved as if by a miracle, and Alvarado, who 
came limping along with the aid of his lance, 
having lost his horse, and also his comrade 
of the rear-guard, the gallant Velasquez de 
Leon. 

The survivors of the noche triste escaped 
only with their lives, almost everything else 
having been lost; all the artillery and am- 
munition, all the baggage, including vast 
treasure of gold in bars and priceless orna- 
195 



HERNANDO CORTES 

merits; all but twenty-three of the horses, 
and even all the muskets, or arquebuses, 
which the despairing soldiers had thrown 
away in their frenzied flight. 

Theirs was a "dreadful deliverance," in- 
deed; nor were they safe even when they 
had reached the main-land, for a long and 
weary journey lay before them to Tlascala, 
a land of doubtful refuge and security. The 
courage of Cortes had not failed him in 
any emergency, even though his judgment 
had been at fault, and the fact that he was 
among the first to arrive at Tacuba was ow- 
ing to no voluntary act of his own. He was 
pressed forward by the throng, when, in the 
confusion of that midnight march, it be- 
came a matter of "every man for himself." 

Rarely has history recorded an instance 
of such signal vengeance or a more disas- 
trous retreat. If the Mexicans had followed 
up their advantage, or had stationed a force 
of warriors to intercept the Spaniards at 
Tacuba, not a single one could have escaped. 
That any did so was owing to their negli- 
gence; but they seemed satisfied with this 
venture in nocturnal warfare. Their desire 
for blood was for the moment glutted, and 
they desisted from following the retreating 
ip6 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

Spaniards, in order to sacrifice their prison- 
ers, perhaps to plunder the wreckage, and 
biiry their dead. 

The causeway to Tacuba was not the 
most direct route for the retreating Span- 
iards to follow, having Tlascala as the ob- 
jective of their journey ; but it was the short- 
est. In order to reach Tlascala (which by 
common consent was now their goal), they 
were compelled to make a wide detour 
around the northern end of Lake Tezcoco, 
and the first night they fortified themselves 
in a temple on a hill nine miles distant from 
Mexico, where, many years later, a chapel 
was erected in remembrance of their woes. 
They halted here only long enough to sleep, 
to dress their many wounds, and make ar- 
rows for their cross-bows, the next day mov- 
ing on, though slowly, under the guidance of 
a Tlascalan, who alone knew the way to 
their hoped-for haven of refuge. Their only 
food for several days consisted of the flesh 
of a horse, slain in the fight (and which they 
devoured even to its skin), a scant supply 
of green corn, and the roots of grasses, which 
the Indians dug out of the earth with their 
teeth. 

In this manner, constantly assailed by 
197 



HERNANDO CORTES 

hovering bands of Indians, the feeble rem- 
nant of that band of conquerors (who had 
defied Montezuma in his capital and made 
all Mexico ring with the fame of their achieve- 
ments), struggled forward towards Tlascala, 
nearly loo miles away. "God only knows," 
wrote Cortes, ''the toil and fatigue with 
which this journey was accompHshed; for 
of twenty-three horses that remained to us, 
there was not one that could move briskly, 
nor a horseman able to raise his arm, nor a 
foot-soldier unhurt ! ' ' 

During a week of weary and painful march- 
ing, the war-worn heroes hobbled on, the 
wounded on crutches, the sick and dying 
borne on horseback, their ears ever assailed 
by the shouts of hostile savages, "Hurry 
along, robbers and murderers, hurry along; 
you will soon meet with the vengeance due 
to your crimes!" After passing through a 
gap in the mountain range which encloses 
the valley of Mexico, they beheld what the 
threats of the Indians had implied: a vast 
host, estimated at more than 100,000 war- 
riors, gathered in battle array on the great 
plain of Otumba. It was within sight 
of the famous pyramids of the sun and 
moon, at Teotihuacan (ominously named 
198 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

the "City of the Dead"), that the Aztec 
army, so long in gathering, was massed for 
the final struggle; and when the Spaniards 
beheld the swarming legions, with waving 
plumes, and weapons glancing in the sun, 
they justly feared their end had come. 

Amid those myriad foes they were, as a 
Spanish historian has truly said, ''like an 
islet in the sea, attacked on every side by 
roaring breakers"; but, though despairing, 
they were undismayed. After a brief ha- 
rangue, Cortes formed them in phalanx, the 
foot-soldiers in the centre, the horsemen on 
the flanks, and like a rock they withstood 
the shocks of these roaring seas; but soon 
crumbled away under the repeated attacks. 

The odds were greatly against the Span- 
iards, for they had not only lost prestige by 
defeat, but they had lost all their cannon 
and arquebuses. It was a hand - to - hand 
fight, after the manner of most ancient times, 
and to the bitter death, in which the best 
men, and the most enduring, would certainly 
win. There seemed no doubt which way 
victory would go, for the Aztecs outnum- 
bered their foes more than loo to one. 
But the tide was turned by Cortes himself, 
who, in the thick of battle, chanced to espy 

14 199 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the cacique in command, surrounded by his 
chiefs, beneath a standard blazoned with the 
royal arms and glittering with gold. Know- 
ing the superstitious reverence with which 
the Aztecs regarded their leader and this 
banner, and realizing that only by a most 
desperate stroke could he avert total defeat, 
he shouted to Sandoval and others: "On, 
gentlemen, let us charge them. 'Santiago! 
Santiago !' " The compact body of horsemen 
pierced the multitude of Aztecs like a wedge, 
dispersed the chiefs or trampled them down. 
With his own lance Cortes pinned the cacique 
to the ground, while one of his captains 
snatched the imperial banner and held it 
aloft for all to see. Instantly there was the 
wildest confusion in the ranks of the Aztecs, 
who, uttering howls of rage and despair, 
gave up the contest and fled the field. 

It is to the honor of Cortes that he did not 
vaunt himself over the part he played in this 
affair, but, rather, wrote of it very modestly 
to his sovereign, ''And we went fighting in 
that toilsome manner a great part of the 
day, until it pleased God that there was slain 
a person of the enemy who must have been 
the general, for with his death the battle 
ceased." 

200 



MIDNIGHT RETREAT FROM MEXICO 

That victory was the greatest the Span- 
iards had won, the slain having been put at 
20,000; but they did not dare follow it up, 
and were only too glad to resume their march 
to Tlascala, which they reached three days 
later, or about July loth. 



^.^ 



XVI 

SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 
1521 

CORTES and his companions were re- 
ceived by the Tlascalans with a kind- 
ness far beyond their deserts or expectations, 
and in the Httle republic they found for 
months a hospitable home. In view of the 
fact that four-fifths of the killed, in Mexico, 
had been natives of Tlascala, filling every 
house with woe and lament, and considering 
that the Spaniards had returned defeated, 
without a single fire-arm of any sort, and in 
a measure defenceless, the continued loyalty 
of the Tlascalans was greatly to their credit. 
It was not adequately requited by Cortes, 
after the conquest had been achieved; but 
into the future these simple, open-hearted 
people could not glance. In spite of a 
Mexican embassy, which followed swiftly 
after their retreat, with proffers of an offen- 
sive and defensive league against the stran- 
202 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

gers, who ''had violated every sacred honor 
and sacrificed the lives of their friends to 
their lust for gold," they remained steadfast 
in their allegiance to the Spanish sovereign. 

The homes of all, both high and low, were 
opened to the Spaniards, who were provided 
with native nurses and surgeons, and, sur- 
rounded with every attention, brought back 
to health and strength. Cortes himself had 
been most desperately wounded, having lost 
two fingers of his left hand, and received a 
blow from a war-club which had splintered 
his skull; but, even while lying on a bed of 
pain, he was scheming for the reconquest of 
the kingdom he had so nearly lost. His 
first act of consequence was to send for re- 
inforcements from Villa Rica, on the coast, 
with which, together with his veterans, he 
intended to form the nucleus of an army. 
Such was his indomitable courage, which 
would not brook defeat. "Fortune ever 
favors those who dare," was his favorite 
proverb; and he wrote his sovereign, not 
long after his recovery, ''I cannot believe 
that the good and merciful God will thus suf- 
fer His cause to perish amiong the heathen!" 

His enemies, as hitherto, were contribut- 
ing, though unwittingly, to his success. One 
203 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of tliem (at least, a rival), the governor of 
Jamaica, had sent three vessels to form a 
colony on the coast north of Vera Cruz ; but 
they cast anchor in that harbor instead, and 
the crews gladly joined with the friends of 
Cortes. Also, a company that had been sent 
out by a merchant adventurer, in a ship 
laden with valuable military stores. To 
these four vessels were added two more, 
which had been despatched by an old ac- 
quaintance (and enemy) of Cortes, the gov- 
ernor of Cuba, Velasquez. Still in igno- 
rance of the fate of his former expedition, 
he believed his emissary, Narvaez, by that 
time, of course, all-powerful and supreme in 
Mexico. As fate would have it, this small 
expedition w^as commanded by our old 
friend, Pedro Barba, who, it will be recalled, 
was alcalde in Havana when Cortes sailed 
from that port. Barba was decoyed ashore 
and captured, and, with his men, was sent 
to Cortes, who soon won him over. Some 
soldiers and large quantities of war material 
were acquired with Barba; also two horses, 
which, added to the ten taken from the 
ships of Jamaica, made an even dozen — 
worth "all the world" to Cort6s, at that 
time. Finally, there returned from His- 
204 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

paniola (whither Cortes had sent them with 
a portion of the treasure that had been 
saved), two agents, who brought with them 
eighty horses, 200 soldiers, a great and 
needed supply of muskets, with ammuni- 
tion, and two big battering cannon. By 
these various means Cortes gradually gath- 
ered about him an army much larger than 
the one with which he originally invaded 
Mexico, and a small battery of cannon, 
though he was not very well supplied with 
muskets and ammunition. 

He had gained acceSvSions to his force ; but 
at the same time he was compelled to send 
away to Cuba quite a comipany of malcon- 
tents, mostly men from the command of 
Narvaez, whose dread of the Aztecs and a 
repetition of the "sorrowful night" quite 
overcame their desire for glory and gold. 
Cortes had done his best to divert them from 
their scheme, by sending out forays for the 
conquest of neighboring tribes; but without 
avail. Great spoil resulted from these forays, 
and by means of them the spirits of the sol- 
diers were revived, for they were constantly 
victorious. 

The first of these punitive expeditions was 
to a southern province, Tepeaca, where, with- 
205 



HERNANDO CORTES 

out fire-arms of any kind, and with only 
their good swords, spears, and targets, Cortes 
and his soldiers defeated the Indians in a 
great battle. At the town of Chacula, in 
this province, the natives had put fifteen 
Spaniards to death, while Cortes was in the 
Aztec city, and as a punishment all the 
women and children were taken for slaves. 
To the shoulder of each shrinking captive, 
whether child of tender years or blooming 
maiden, the hot iron was cruelly applied; 
and ever after it bore, burned deeply into 
the flesh, the letter G (guerra), brand of 
war. 

So hardened were the soldiers, that they 
felt little sympathy for the unfortunate and 
innocent victims of their vengeance; but 
they were loud in their complaints of the 
manner in which these unlucky slaves were 
apportioned. For it seems, despite the 
perils he and his comrades had shared in 
common, Cortes had changed in character 
not at all. He still assumed the king and 
Cortes to be entitled to all the spoils, and 
that the poor soldier fought for them only 
to be despoiled, like the enemy. This, of 
course, caused great discontent among the 
soldiers, who charged Cortes with having 
206 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

concealed all the valuable slaves; and those 
of Narvaez swore they had never heard of 
such a thing as two kings and two-fifths, in 
his majesty's dominions. 

When brought to task, Cortes swore by 
his conscience ("his usual oath") that it 
never should happen again; but not long 
after, learning that some of the soldiers, who 
had, at the risk of their lives, saved some 
gold bars from Montezuma's treasure (which 
he had given them permission to do, it will 
be remembered), he ordered them to deliver 
up the gold on pain of death. These trans- 
actions afford us side-lights as to the charac- 
ter of Cortes, and need no comment ; but it 
is a sad reflection that one so brave could 
also be so base. 

"Some will ask," writes blunt old Bernal 
Diaz, "how Cortes was able to send agents 
to Spain, to Hispaniola, and Jamaica with- 
out money. To this I reply that on the 
night of our retreat from Mexico, though 
many of the soldiers were killed, yet a con- 
siderable quantity of gold was saved, as the 
first who passed the bridge were the eighty 
loaded Tlascalans ; so that though much was 
lost in the ditches of Mexico, yet all was not 
left there, and the gold which was brought 
207 



HERNANDO CORTES 

off by the Tlascalans was b}^ them delivered 
to Cortes." 

By whatever means, but certainly by al- 
most superhuman activity and toil during 
the five months of his stay in Tlascala, Cortes 
completed preparations for the darling ob- 
ject of his ambitions, the siege and capture 
of the Aztec capital. While his soldiers 
were sweeping the country outside the valley 
brim clear of possible allies for the Aztecs, 
while his agents at the coast, in Jamaica 
and Hispaniola, were recruiting for his army 
of occupation, he had hundreds of Tlascalans 
employed, under that invaluable man, Mar- 
tin Lopez, the shipwright, hewing timibers 
for thirteen brigantines, in the great pine 
forests of Tlascala. 

After sending the Cubans home, bearing 
letters to Velasquez and to Doiia Catalina; 
and after despatching to his sovereign an- 
other of those wonderful letters {''Cartas de 
Cortes,'' which have lived to illumine his 
deeds in Mexico), Cortes departed for his 
goal. One hundred Tlascalans had been 
sent by him to the coast for the iron-work 
and rigging of the dismantled ships (includ- 
ing his own, those taken from Narvaez, from 
the Jamaicans, and from Barba), with orders 
208 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

to meet the army at Tezcoco, whither, also, 
Lopez was to send the timbers for the vessels. 
Towards Tezcoco, in the last week of De- 
cember, 1520, Cortes took his way, attended 
by his little army of 600 soldiers and 10,000 
Tlascalan allies. 

He had chosen Tezcoco, the city on the 
lake of that name, as his centre of operations 
at the beginning of the siege, because of its 
many advantages. It was but nine miles 
distant by water from the capital, was well 
situated for attack as well as retreat, con- 
tained many fortified temples and palaces; 
and finally, commanded a stretch of fertile 
plain planted with maize, and capable of 
sustaining a large army. The king of Tez- 
coco, Coanacotzin, sent an embassy to meet 
Cortes, at the same time presenting him with 
a splendid banner as a token of peace ; but, 
as he had been instrumental in kilHng more 
than forty Spaniards, who were in his ter- 
ritory several months before, he dared not 
face the advancing army, but fled by night 
to the Aztec city across the lake. In his 
place upon the vacant throne Cortes seat- 
ed his younger brother. Prince Ixtlilxo- 
chitl (pronounced Eesht - leel - ho - cheetl) , 
who, next to the Tlascalans, was the Span- 
209 



HERNANDO CORTES 

fards' most serviceable ally during the 
siege. 

Carrying out his sagacious scheme of cut- 
ting off from Mexico all the tributary cities 
and towns, Cortes was no sooner well estab- 
lished at Tezcoco than he marched upon 
Iztapalapan with 200 soldiers and 3000 
allies. In that beautiful city, which had 
been the residence of King Cuitlahua (and 
was celebrated until long after the con- 
quest for its wonderful gardens), Cortes 
came very near losing his life and his army, 
at one and the same time, for the inhabi- 
tants cut the dikes which kept back the 
waters of the two lakes by which it was sur- 
rounded, and in a trice the place was sub- 
merged. The Spaniards were busy at the 
sack of the city, setting fire to the houses, 
beating off the Aztec warriors, who came 
flocking thither in their war -canoes, and 
but for the vigilance of a Tlascalan sentinel 
might all have been drowned. Some few 
lost their lives as it was, and most of the 
survivors lost all their rich plunder and got 
their powder wet, which put them in very 
bad humor indeed. 

At Iztapalapan, as well as at Chalco and 
Xochimilco (the last-named situated between 
210 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

the two others, and famous for its chinampas, 
or floating gardens), bodies of Aztec troops 
came over in war-canoes and did their ut- 
most to defeat the plans of the invaders. 
Several Spaniards were captured alive, and, 
after having been barbarously sacrificed on 
the teocalU, their arms and legs were sent 
to different parts of Anahuac as trophies of 
Aztec valor. In the various temples of these 
tributary cities the sorrowing soldiers fre- 
quently discovered grewsome reminders of 
their slain countrymen, in the skins of their 
face with beards attached, tanned like leath- 
er, and hung around the altars, while the walls 
were besmeared with their blood. 

^ Extending his forays in ever - widening 
circles, Cortes finally reached the wonderful 
city of Cuernavaca, which was situated be- 
tween two deep ravines, spanned by bridges, 
which the Indians raised or destroyed at 
the appearance of the enemy. The army 
was compelled to passively endure the 
taunts of the Indians, safely intrenched in 
their impregnable position, until one of the 
soldiers (the redoubtable Bernal Diaz him- 
self) discovered that two great trees, growing 
on opposite banks of the ravine, interlocked 
their limbs in mid-air, thus affording a peril- 

211 



HERNANDO CORTES 

ous passage for those who dared to venture. 
Some Tlascalans led the way, followed by 
several soldiers, two of whom lost their bal- 
ance and fell from this dizzy height to the 
bed of the stream, loo feet below. Those 
who got across attacked the Indians in 
the rear, diverting them until a bridge was 
thrown over, when the city was quickly 
taken. 

Countermarching from Cuernavaca, Cortes 
appeared once more among the cities within 
the valley brim, his nearest approach to the 
capital being at Coyoacan, whence he swung 
around westward to Tacuba, the scene of his 
first great defeat. On the way he passed the 
hill of Chapoltepec, the aqueduct from which 
to the capital (affording the Aztecs their sole 
supply of drinking-water) he partly destroy- 
ed. From Tacuba the little army passed 
northward and eastward, around the great 
lake, to Tezcoco, their point of departure, 
thus having completed the circuit of the 
valley and cut all connections leading from 
the capital outward to the cities roundabout. 

This great work of isolating the city of 
Mexico from its tributaries had not been ac- 
complished without most strenuous resist- 
ance from its occupants and defenders. The 

213 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

Mexicans sallied out by thousands and tens 
of thousands ; their war-canoes darkened the 
waters of the lakes. On several occasions 
they succeeded in taking prisoners for their 
sacrifices, and slew many of their enemies; 
but their attacks did not for a moment cause 
the intrepid Cortes to deviate from his plan 
of operations. 

Three different times during this raid 
around the valley Cortes had been in dire 
peril. Once he was severely wounded, and 
twice was on the point of being captured, 
when his soldiers rescued him from the Aztecs, 
who were hurrying him off to the temple, a 
most acceptable victim for the sacrifice. 
Two of his attendants were less fortunate, 
being taken by the enemy and thrown upon 
the Sacrificial Stone before the very eyes of 
the sorrowing but helpless Spaniards, while 
they were viewing the capital from the sum- 
mit of a teocalU in Tacuba. 

The fourth attempt upon the life of Cortes, 
after he had set out to reduce the capital, 
was made by one of his own countrymen, 
a friend of Governor Velasquez, named Vil- 
lafana, who conspired with others to assas- 
sinate him while he was at dinner with his 
captains. The plot became known to one 

21.^ 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of his faithful soldiers, who warned him, and 
Villafaiia was promptly arrested. A paper 
was found in his possession containing the 
names of the conspirators; but Cortes pro- 
ceeded against the chief conspirator only, 
recognizing the necessity for an example, 
and hung him from a window of his apart- 
ment. 

It was in the midst of perils such as these 
that Cortes perfected the plans he had made, 
and finally moved against the Aztec city, 
which lay in full view of Tezcoco. While he 
had been marching and fighting, his work- 
men and artisans had been constantly em- 
ployed, so that there was no halt in the labor 
of preparation. From the distant forests of 
Tlascala, Martin Lopez and his Indian aux- 
iHaries had brought down the timber for 
the thirteen brigantines. Eight thousand 
sturdy Tlascalans bore upon their backs 
all the timbers, ready shaped for setting up 
on the stocks; 2000 more were laden with 
provisions, while another body of 8000 
came along as an escort. They were pre- 
ceded by the 2000 tamanes, or burden- 
bearers, from Villa Rica, carrying the iron- 
work and rigging from the dismantled ships ; 
and when this vast procession entered Tez- 
214 



SIEGE OF THE AZTEC CAPITAL 

COCO, it was with shouts of triumph that 
might have been heard in the Aztec city 
across the lake. They were six hours in 
marching through the city, where they were 
reviewed by Cortes and his troops, while, to 
the stirring sound of drums, horns, and trum- 
pets, they shouted at the top of their lungs: 
''Tlascala, Cas/^YZa /"— Tlascala, Cortes and 
Castile forever! 

Martin Lopez put the ships together with 
the greatest speed once they were on the 
stocks; but he was constantly harassed by 
canoes filled with Mexican soldiers, who came 
over and, several times, set the ship-yards on 
fire. Cortes retaliated upon the Aztecs for 
these invasions by despoiHng the vast fields 
of maize on the borders of the lake, which 
belonged to the priests of the temple in 
Mexico. 

The brigantines were finally launched in 
the last week of April, a canal having been 
dug for the purpose, a mile and a half in 
length, twelve feet deep and broad. They 
floated out to the lake, to the roar of cannon 
and the clash of military music, each vessel 
receiving its crew and equipment without a 
day's delay, so perfectly had Cortes prepared 
for the event. And with the launching of 
IS 215 



HERNANDO CORTES 

these thirteen brigantines, which were of 
great importance in the operations against 
the Aztecs, the siege of Mexico may be said 
to have begun. 



XVII 

Montezuma's city destroyed 
1521 

AT a grand review of his army, held in 
/\Tezcoco the first week in May, Cortes 
found himself in command of nearly 900 sol- 
diers, including 90 cavalry, 100 musketeers 
and cross-bowmen, and 700 infantry armed 
with lance and sword. His allies, at the out- 
set, numbered 70,000, but during the siege, at 
times, they increased to more than 200,000. 

He had three large cannon, fifteen brass 
field -pieces, and a good supply of bullets, 
but only 1000 pounds of powder, most of 
which had been manufactured with sulphur 
taken from the crater of Popocatapetl. A 
crew of twenty -five men was assigned to 
each brigantine, which also carried a cannon 
in the bow ; and almost at the very start the 
Mexicans were to receive a lesson as to the 
destructiveness of this winged flotilla armed 
with artillery, Cortes himself commanded 
217 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the naval armament, and upon setting out 
was confronted with an immense fleet of 
war-canoes, assembled by the king of Mexico 
to oppose his progress. The sea was smooth, 
a morning calm prevailed, and while the 
vessels lay inert the war-canoes swept for- 
ward with powerful strokes of the paddles, 
their crews yelling loudly in anticipation of 
victory. Suddenly the wind sprang up, the 
cannon, double - shotted, poured into the 
fleet their volleys of death, and the heavy 
brigantines ploughed through the canoes, 
overturning and crushing all in their way. 
The surface of the lake was tinged with 
blood and covered with mangled remains, 
while very few of the Aztec canoes returned 
to the island city from which they had 
emerged. 

Another occurrence about that time which 
impressed the Indians deeply, was the execu- 
tion of that fierce and warlike Tlascalan, 
Xicotencatl, who, taking advantage of the 
confusion attendant upon embarkation, de- 
serted his command and set out for his home. 
Speedily learning of this defection, Cortes 
sent an alguacil and several cavalrymen in 
pursuit, with orders to overtake and " hang 
him on the spot." They obeyed their orders 
218 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

to the letter, and thus Cortes was rid of a 
formidable enemy, by whose death he came 
into possession of rare jewels and a hoard 
of gold ; for he immediately appropriated all 
the private fortune of the chief as well as 
his family. 

This was done in the face of the fact that 
Cortes was going forth to fight a foe by no 
means unprepared, and supported by allies 
whose racial and religious ties bound them 
closely to his enemies. During the months 
in which the Spaniards had been preparing 
for the siege, the Mexicans had put their 
city in a posture of defence. Cuitlahuatzin, 
Montezuma's successor, had perished of the 
small-pox, which had been introduced into 
Mexico by a negro who came with the 
army of Narvaez. The pestilence had 
spread over the country at an alarming 
rate, and had numbered thousands among 
its victims, including some of the Tlascalan 
nobles. 

The throne vacated by the death of Cuit- 
lahuatzin was filled by a son-in-law of Monte- 
zuma, named Guatemo, or Guatemotzin,^ who 

*Gua-te-mo, or Guatemo-tzin ; also spelled Quahte- 
motzin. The termination tzin, a mark of reverence or 
rank. 

219 



HERNANDO CORTES 

proved himself a worthy successor to the 
great monarchs who had preceded him. He 
was only twenty-three years old, but had re- 
ceived his training under the most valiant 
war chiefs, and entered into the defence of 
the city with spirit and energy. Wherever 
the Spaniards attacked, there they found 
hordes of Aztecs, massed in front or around 
them, always ready for defence and eager 
for an engagement. While himself invisible 
to the besiegers, Guatemotzin directed every 
movement with the practised eye of a veteran 
to whom all strategy seemed familiar. 

In disposing of his forces for investment, 
Cortes assigned Alvarado, with 200 soldiers, 
20,000 Tlascalans, and two cannon, to Ta- 
cuba, west of the city; Olid and Sandoval, 
each with an equal force, went to Coyoacan 
and Iztapalapan, at the south, to which 
place last named Cortes himself proceeded 
by water in the brigantines. Combining 
with Sandoval, he attacked the city fierce- 
ly and carried it by storm, after which, 
in conjunction with Olid, an advance was 
made upon the small fortress of Xoloc 
(Ho-loc), much nearer the capital, at the 
junction of the two southern causeways. 
Xoloc fell before the combined attack by 
220 




ALVARADO 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

land and lake, the garrison was slaughtered, 
and the situation seized by Cortes as the 
site of his headquarters, where he main- 
tained himself during the ninety days of the 
siege. 

At Xoloc Cortes established what he called 
the *Xamp of the Causeways," where, being 
at the junction of the two stone roads from 
Iztapalapan and Coyoacan (whence they 
continued as one highway to the capital), 
he held a strategic position superior to any 
other that could have been chosen. He 
could draw upon both Sandoval and Olid 
for troops, in an emergency, and he had 
also the support of the brigantines, which he 
divided into three small fleets. 

The Spaniards had no sooner fixed their 
camps than they began assaults upon the 
city along the respective causeways. The 
distance that separated Alvarado from San- 
doval, Cortes, and Olid was less than two 
leagues; or from Xoloc to Tacuba it was 
perhaps not more than four miles. There 
was, then, great rivalry as to which force 
should be the first to penetrate to the great 
square in the centre of the city, and this led 
to disaster. For, lying in wait for them, 
like a fierce spider in his web, was Guate- 

221 



HERNANDO CORTES 

motzin, ready to pounce upon and slay as 
many as could be drawn within his ambush. 
From a military point of view, the opera- 
tions of Cortes up to a certain point, were 
faultless. If he had adhered to his original 
plan, which was to fill all the canals in front 
of the troops as fast as an advance was made, 
and destroy every building between the be- 
siegers and the enemy, he might have saved 
many a life which was needlessly lost; but 
he was influenced by the pleadings of his 
captains and soldiers, and consented to an 
advance before the ground had been suffi- 
ciently cleared for the purpose. Every 
morning, at dawn, the Spaniards sallied forth 
preceded by thousands of the allies, who filled 
the canals and razed the structures imped- 
ing their progress. This was slow work for 
the impatient veterans, who wished Cortes 
to follow the method pursued by Alvarado, 
which was to post a guard at the most ad- 
vanced point gained by the day's fight, and 
return to it the next morning, thus constant- 
ly advancing. In one of the raids by Cortes 's 
soldiers the great square was reached, and, 
among other structures destroyed was the 
palace of Axayacatl, as well as Montezuma's 
aviary, which latter, being mostly of wood, 

222 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

went up in smoke and flames that were visible 
throughout the valley. 

The allies of the Aztecs now began to 
show signs of yielding, and the beacon-fires 
and signal-smokes, with which they had com- 
municated with Guatemotzin, were less fre- 
quently seen, while their embassies to Cortes, 
with offers of allegiance, arrived every day 
at the Camp of the Causeways. The Span- 
ish army was thus greatly augumented, while 
the Aztecs were correspondingly weakened; 
but as an offset the Mexicans gained, by 
stratagem, one of the brigantines, in a naval 
fight, in which the gallant Pedro Barba, 
captain of the cross-bowmen, lost his life. 

Strengthened as he was by the accessions 
from without, and spurred on by the rapid 
advances of Alvarado, Cortes finally con- 
sented to a concerted attack by all the forces, 
from Tacuba, Xoloc, and Tepajacac, con- 
verging upon the great square of the city as 
a common centre. Nearly twenty days had 
then gone by, and though they had been 
filled with constant fighting, the gains had 
been too slight to satisfy the soldiers. They 
clamored for an advance in force, and, yield- 
ing to their importunities, Cortes gave the 
fatal order. Accompanying the detachments 
223 



HERNANDO CORTES 

in their march along the causeways was a 
fleet of nearly 3000 canoes filled with allies, 
and the brigantines, while 60,000 savages 
poured over the stone roadways, in anticipa- 
tion of victims for their cannibal feasts. 

There was feasting that night upon hu- 
man flesh, but not to any great extent by 
the Indian allies, for the Mexicans, unknown 
to the Spaniards, had made every prepara- 
tion for their defeat, and secured many a 
victim by their strategy. During the pre- 
ceding night they had deepened the broad- 
est canal across the main causeway, erected 
barricades, and posted thousands of their 
warriors in ambush, not only in canoes, but 
in the lateral streets and alleys. As the 
Spaniards and their hosts advanced, they 
feigned a retreat so skilfully as to draw their 
enemies into the great plaza, where they were 
wedged in dense masses by the crowding for- 
ward of the tmdisciplined allies, and then 
were entirely at Guatemotzin's mercy. 

" Suddenly the king of Mexico's great horn 
was blown, giving notice to his captains that 
they were then to take their enemies prison- 
ers or die in the attempt." The trumpet- 
call of Guatemotzin was the last appeal of 
the priests and nobles to their followers, 
224 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

and, inspired by the sound, the Aztecs burst 
from their places of ambush with a fury in- 
credible. The Spaniards were thrown into 
confusion, and attempted to retreat, but 
were at first prevented by the masses of their 
allies, between them and the Camp of the 
Causeway. They were slaughtered by scores 
and by hundreds, their ears were assailed by 
a din of hideous war-cries, which prevented 
all orders from being heard, and into the 
canoes that fell upon their flanks more than 
seventy soldiers were dragged, despite their 
shrieks and struggles, and hurried away to 
the war -god's hideous temple. Cortes had 
remained with the rear-guard, but when he 
heard the tumult of retreat he hurried for- 
ward, though only in time to be caught in 
the press and himself seized by savage war- 
riors, who dragged him from his horse and 
towards a canoe. He was disabled by a 
blow from a war-club, but while lying un- 
conscious on the ground was rescued by 
two of his faithful followers, Olea and Lerma, 
assisted by a Tlascalan chief, who killed five 
of his assailants and bore him to safety ; but 
when it was reached the gallant Olea, who 
had been mortally wounded, fell dead by 
his commander's side. A prolonged howl 

225 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of rage went up at the escape of Cortes, who 
was well known to all the caciques, and who 
was the real object of attack in this ferocious 
onset. If the Aztecs had not been so anxious 
to capture him alive, they might have ended 
the siege of Mexico by a stroke of the sword 
when they had Cortes in their power. He 
escaped, thankful for his life, and withdrew 
with his shattered army to Xoloc, w^hither 
he was pursued by the Mexicans to the very 
gates. 

Meanwhile, the same bloody scenes had 
been enacted in front of the troops com- 
manded by Alvarado and Sandoval. Guate- 
motzin proved himself a great general on this 
day, if he had never been counted one before, 
for, from the teocalli summit, he directed the 
movements of three vast bodies of his war- 
riors, and guided them all to victory. 

After defeating Cortes, the Aztec chiefs 
who had driven him to his camp turned 
upon Alvarado and Sandoval, throwing in 
front of them five freshly severed and bleed- 
heads, telling them they were those of their 
commander-in-chief and his officers. That 
turned the tide of battle instantly, for, 
though it was usually necessary for the Span- 
iards to clear the causeway of the allies pre- 
226 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

ceding a retreat (to prevent confusion), on 
this occasion it was not, for, says the old 
historian, "the sight of the bloody heads 
had done it effectually; nor did one of them 
remain on the causeway to impede our re- 
treat!" 

The same subterfuge was practised on 
Cortes, also, for the Mexicans returned to 
Xoloc, and cast down before the walls other 
heads of Spaniards. And, as in the previous 
instance, they had exclaimed: "Malintzin! 
Malintzin!" so now they gleefully shouted: 
''Tonatiuh! Sandoval!" They hoped there- 
by to discourage the commanders and in- 
duce them to retreat; but they did not fully 
fathom those stern natures, which, though 
distressed beyond, measure at the probable 
fate of their comrades in arms, remained 
stanch and inflexible. All their courage 
was demanded, however, when, in the even- 
ing of that dreadful day, they beheld a scene 
calculated to drive them to despair, and 
which should be described in the words of 
an eye-witness. In dire distress, nearly all 
of them suffering from wounds, with hardly 
any shelter, and meagrely supplied with food, 
the Spaniards were compelled to rest upon 
their arms. ''Before we arrived at our 
227 



HERNANDO CORTES 

quarters," says brave Bernal Diaz (who was 
with Alvarado at Tacuba), "and while the 
enemy were still in pursuit, on a sudden we 
heard their shrill timbrels, and the horrific 
sound of the great serpent-drum in the tem- 
ple of the war - god. We all directed our 
eyes thither, and, shocking to relate ! saw our 
unfortunate countrymen driven by force, 
cuffs, and bastinadoes to the place where they 
were to be sacrificed, which bloody ceremony 
was accompanied by the mournful sounds of 
all the instruments of the temple. 

** We perceived that when they had brought 
the unfortunate victims to the fiat summit of 
the temple, where were the adoratories, they 
put plumes on their heads, and fans in their 
hands, and made them dance before their 
accursed idols. When they had done this 
they laid them upon their backs, on the stone 
used for this purpose [the Sacrificial Stone], 
where they cut out their hearts, alive, and 
having presented them, yet palpitating, to 
their gods, they threw the victims down the 
steps by the feet, where they were taken by 
others of their priests." 

Although the Tlascalans and others of the 
allies were wont to feast upon the limbs of 
Aztecs they had slain, and bore back to 
228 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

their camps every evening these gory evi- 
dences of their prowess, they were intimi- 
dated by this display of Mexican ferocity. 
And when Guatemotzin sent around the 
heads of horses and human captives, with 
the message that they must forsake the 
Spaniards, unless they too would share their 
doom, one cohort after another slunk away, 
until Cortes had few left besides a faithful 
remnant of Tlascalans, and Prince Ixtlilxo- 
chitl's 50,000. 

But for an error of the Aztec priests, who 
(barbarians that they were), erred on the 
side of superstition, he might have been de- 
serted by all his allies, and left to continue 
the siege unassisted. That he would con- 
tinue, he had. resolved; and never faltered, 
even when his men were all but terror- 
stricken at the horrid sights on the teocalli. 
But, in their arrogance, the priests ventured 
upon prophecy, and gave out that their gods 
had promised victory for the Mexicans within 
eight days of the last assault. When Cortes 
learned of it, he merely rested his soldiers 
(contenting himself with repelling the Aztec 
assaults, which were as fierce as ever), and 
did not make another advance into the 
capital until after the time had expired. 
229 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Then he reminded his former alhes of the 
false predictions, promising to overlook their 
desertion and richly reward them if they 
would rejoin him. Having, meanwhile, sent 
an army of relief to the Cuernavacans and 
Otomies, and thus shown himself willing 
and able to assist those who were faith- 
ful, he was soon overwhelmed with hordes 
of Indians, to the number (the old his- 
torians say), of above 200,000. The Aztecs 
were now "forsaken by all their former 
friends and vassals, surrounded by their 
enemies, and oppressed by famine," yet they 
would not for a moment entertain the 
thought of surrender. Famine, which had 
been their ally in reducing the Spaniards to 
terms on their former visit to the capital, 
was now the active instrument of their own 
destruction. 

Realizing their pitiful condition, Cortes 
availed himself of the presence in his camp 
of some Mexican nobles, who had been capt- 
ured, and despatched them to Guatemotzin 
with overtures of peace; but the Aztecs re- 
turned a defiant message, breathing the 
vengeance and slaughter, which, they de- 
clared, would soon be theirs to inflict, in the 
name of their gods. Then Cortes ordered 
230 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

a general advance, in pursuance of his origi- 
nal scheme, destroying all the buildings in 
front of him, and filling the gaps in the 
causeways with their debris. A horde of 
allies went with the Spaniards to perform 
the work of destruction, while the Mexicans 
taunted them by shouting: "Demolish, de- 
moHsh, ye traitors! Lay the houses in ruin, 
which ye will have the labor of rebuilding 
afterwards!" 

It grieved even the hard-hearted Cortes to 
destroy this city, which he called the "most 
beautiful thing in the world"; but by its 
destruction only could he bring the obdu- 
rate Mexicans to terms. They were entirely 
blockaded, and their supplies of water and 
food completely cut off. Reduced to the 
necessity of eating the bark of trees, roots, 
lizards, vermin of all sorts in their extremity 
(it has been asserted, as well as denied), they 
devoured human flesh other than that fur- 
nished the favored few from the captives 
sacrificed on the teocallis. 

Again and again Cortes sent to Guate- 
motzm his proposals for surrender; but they 
were rejected with scorn, and the last unfort- 
unate noble who bore them was sent by 
the enraged king to be sacrificed. The as- 

i6 231 



HERNANDO CORTES 

saults and advances of the Spaniards were 
but a repetition of their former exploits; so, 
also, were the frequent sacrifices of victims 
seized by the Aztecs but loathsome scenes 
which had been enacted before, and they do 
not demand further description. 

The day arrived, at last, July 24th, when 
the Spaniards held three-fourths of the city 
in their grasp, and the forces that had so 
long and persistently fought their way from 
the opposite points of Tacuba and Iztapala- 
pan met and fraternized in the central plaza. 
Cortes mounted the great teocalU in order 
that all might see him and to "vex the 
Aztecs," from that elevated situation there- 
after directing the movements of the armies. 

In one of the temples, which in turn was 
taken by assault and destroyed, the Span- 
iards found the heads of many of their sol- 
diers, the hair and beard on which had grown 
very long since they were placed there, on 
beams in the "Room of Skulls." Tears 
came to the eyes of those stern veterans, and 
they sorrowed for their friends ; but they did 
not make any direct reprisals upon the com- 
mon people. 

It was among the wretched populace in 
general — the innocent women and children, 
232 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

emaciated by famine and dying by degrees, 
thousands of them herded in a space suffi- 
cient for hundreds only — that the carnage 
was greatest, though the inexorable war- 
riors perished by thousands. At a signal 
given by the firing of a musket, Cortes 
let loose the ferocious allies, who slaugh- 
tered in one day 8000 of these half-starved 
and defenceless wretches, and in another, 
40,000. All who would have surrendered 
were butchered by the allies, while the war- 
riors fought, to a man, tmtil the heaps 
of slain were so high that the attack- 
ing savages could scarce see over them. 
Thus it went on, day after day: blood flow- 
ing in streams, precious lives going out in 
agony, while the stubborn, indomitable king 
and his nobles retreated still farther into 
the corner of the city remaining to them, 
which had now become their prison, and 
might be their tomb. 

By his own evidence shall Cortes be judged. 
Nearly a year after the siege was ended he 
wrote to Charles V. a letter describing the 
closing scenes, and telHng with brutal frank- 
ness what he did: "As soon as it was day, 
I caused our whole force to be in readiness, 
and the heavy guns to be brought out. . . . 
233 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Being all assembled, and the brigantines 
drawn up ready for action, I directed that 
when they heard the discharge of an ar- 
quebuse, the land force should enter the 
small part of the city that yet remained to 
be taken, and drive the enemy towards the 
water, where the vessels lay. I enjoined 
much upon them to look for Guatemotzin, 
and endeavor to take him alive, as in that 
case the war would cease. I then ascended 
a terrace, and, before the combat began, 
addressed some of the nobles whom I knew, 
asking them why their sovereign refused to 
come to me, adding that there was no good 
reason why they should all perish, and that 
they should go to call him and have no 
fears. 

"Two of them went to call the emperor, 
and after a short time they returned and 
said that he would by no means come into 
my presence, preferring rather to die; that 
his determination grieved them much, but 
that I must do whatever I desired. Seeing 
that this was his settled purpose, I told the 
nobles to return, then, and prepare for the 
renewal of the war, which I was resolved to 
continue until their destruction was com- 
plete! More than five hours had been thus 
234 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

Spent, during which time many of the in- 
habitants were crowded together upon piles 
of the dead. Indeed, so excessive were the 
sufferings of the people, that no one can 
imagine how they were able to sustain them ; 
and an immense multitude of men, women, 
and children, in their eagerness to reach us, 
threw themselves into the water and were 
drowned among the mass of dead bodies. 
It appeared that the number of them who 
had perished, from drinking the salt water, 
from famine or pestilence, amounted to 
more than fifty thousand souls! ... In those 
streets where they had perished we found 
heaps of dead so frequently that a person 
passing could not avoid stepping upon them, 
and when the people of the city flocked tow- 
ards us I caused sentinels to be stationed 
to prevent our allies from destroying the 
wretched, persons who came out in such 
multitudes. I also charged the captains of 
our allies to forbid, by all means in their 
power, the slaughter of these fugitives; yet 
all my precautions were insufficient to pre- 
vent it, and that day more than fifteen 
thousand lost their lives ! ... As the evening 
approached and no sign of their surrender 
appeared, I ordered two pieces of ordnance 
235 



HERNANDO CORTES 

to be levelled and discharged; but they suf- 
fered greater injury when full license was 
given to the allies to attack them than from 
the cannon, although the latter did them 
some mischief. ... As this was of little avail, 
I ordered the musketry to be fired, when a 
certain angular space, where they were gath- 
ered together, was gained, and those that 
remained there yielded themselves without 
a struggle. . . . 

"In the meantime, the brigantines sud- 
denly entered that part of the lake, and 
broke through the fleet of canoes, the war- 
riors who were in them not daring to make 
any resistance. It pleased God that the 
captain of a brigantine, named Garci Hol- 
guin, came up behind a canoe in which there 
seemed to be persons of distinction, and 
when the archers who were stationed in the 
bow of the brigantine took aim at those in 
the canoe, they made a signal that the em- 
peror was there, that the men might not 
discharge their arrows. Instantly our peo- 
ple leaped into the canoe, and seized in it 
Guatemotzin and the lord of Tacuba, to- 
gether with other distinguished persons. 

" Immediately after this occurrence, Garci 
Holguin, the captain, delivered to me, on a 
236 



MONTEZUMA'S CITY DESTROYED 

terrace adjoining the lake, where I was stand- 
ing, Emperor Guatemotzin, with other noble 
prisoners. As I, without any asperity of 
manner, bade him sit down, he came up to 
me and said, in his own tongue, that he had 
done all that he could in defence of himself 
and his people, until he was reduced to his 
present condition ; that now I might do with 
him as I pleased. He then laid his hand on 
a poniard that I wore, telling me to strike 
him to the heart. 

"I spoke encouragingly to him, and bade 
him have no fears. Thus the emperor being 
taken a prisoner, the war ceased at this 
point, which it pleased God, our Lord, to 
bring to a conclusion on Tuesday, August 
13, 152 1. So that from the day in which 
the city was first invested [May 30th, in 
that year], until it was taken, seventy-five 
days had elapsed, during which time your 
majesty will see what labors, dangers, and 
calamities your subjects endured; and. their 
deeds afford the best evidence how much 
they exposed their lives." 

This letter from Cortes to his sovereign 

was sent from the city of Coyoacan, May 

15, 1522, and is of great value, not only as 

the testimony of the principal character in 

237 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the siege and conquest of Mexico, but on 
account of having been written so soon after 
the events transpired. Another eye-witness 
of all those scenes, the veteran Diaz, writing 
more than forty years later, after Cortes and 
nearly all the conquerors had passed away, 
says the siege really lasted ninety -three days. 
'' In the night after Guatemotzin w^as made 
prisoner, there was the greatest tempest of 
rain, thunder, and lightning, that ever was 
known; but all our soldiers were as deaf as 
if they had been for hours in a steeple, with 
the bells ringing about their ears. This was 
owing to the constant noise of the enemy 
for ninety -three days: shouting, whistling, 
calling, as signals to attack us on the cause- 
ways, from the temples of their accursed 
idols. The timbals, and horns, and the 
mournful sound of their great drum, and 
other dismal noises, were incessantly assail- 
ing our ears, so that day or night we could 
hardly hear each other speak." 



XVIII 

THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 
1521 

WITH the capture of Guatemotzin the 
overthrow of the capital was assured, 
for all resistance ceased as soon as the Aztecs 
learned that he was a prisoner. He had 
been the life and soul of the defence, as 
Cortes had been that of the attack. Dur- 
ing that memorable siege of nearly three 
months, more than 150,000 Mexicans had 
perished, many thousands of the allies, and 
about 200 Spaniards, of which number 100 
had been sacrificed. Of the surviving Mexi- 
cans, indeed, there were few not wounded, 
or afflicted with disease the result of famine 
and pestilence. 

The order was given to vacate the city 
that it might be cleansed of its impurities, 
and "for three days and nights the cause- 
ways were covered, from one end to the 
other, with men, women and children, so 
239 



HERNANDO CORTES 

weak and sickly, squalid, dirty, and alto- 
gether pestilential, that it was a misery to 
behold them. Some miserable wretches were 
creeping about in a famished condition 
through the deserted streets ; the ground was 
all broken up, to get at such roots as it 
afforded, the very trees were stripped of 
their bark, and there was not a drop of 
drinking-water in the city." 

The Spaniards had fallen back to their old 
posts in the outskirts of the city, and while 
the wretched people fared forth in squalor 
and misery, seeking the open country, home- 
less and destitute, the victors celebrated their 
victory by a great feast at their quarters in 
Coyoacan. It was their first in many a 
month, and they were certainly entitled to 
it; but for many reasons, admitted, one of 
the revellers afterwards, *4t would have 
been much better let alone," for the wine 
that had been brought up from the coast, 
*'was the cause of many fooleries and worse 
things: it made some leap over the tables 
who afterwards could not go out at the 
doors, and many rolled down the steps. . . . 
These scenes were truly ridiculous, and. when 
the matter was brought to Cortes (who was 
discreet in all his actions), he affected to 
240 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

disapprove the whole, and requested our 
chaplain to offer a solemn thanksgiving, and 
preach a sermon to the soldiers on the moral 
and religious duties, which he did. Then a 
procession was formed, with crosses, drums, 
and standards, and after that Father Bar- 
tholomew preached, and we returned thanks 
to God for our victory." 

While exhilarated by wine, ''the private 
soldiers swore they would buy horses with 
golden harness; the cross-bowmen would 
use none but golden arrows ; all were to have 
their fortunes made." When they recover- 
ed their senses, however, they found them- 
selves possessed of little besides the armor 
they wore and the weapons they carried, 
while some were in debt even for them. 

They sacked the ruined city, even while 
the people were deserting it, and the atmos- 
phere was so tainted by decaying corpses 
that they could scarcely breathe ; but found 
little to reward them for their pains. From 
the plundering of empty houses and corpses 
they turned upon Cortes and demanded 
that he should compel Guatemotzin to de- 
clare the hiding-place of his treasure; for 
the total amount of gold obtained did not 
exceed $200,000 in value, or less than 100 
241 



HERNANDO CORTES 

crowns to each soldier. They more than 
insinuated that Cortes was shielding his 
royal prisoner, in order that he himself 
might benefit, and at the proper time ap- 
propriate the treasure. In order to vin- 
dicate himself, Cortes basely and weakly 
gave Guatemotzin into the hands of his 
enemies, who, at the instance of the king's 
treasurer, drenched his feet with oil and ex- 
posed them to a slow fire. The torture was 
intense, but the emperor bore it with ex- 
traordinary fortitude, even mildly chiding 
his companion, the cacique of Tacuba (who 
shared this torment with him) for showing 
signs of weakness. 

Nothing was gained by this inhuman treat- 
ment of their prisoner, except the informa- 
tion that what little treasure he possessed 
had been thrown into the deepest part of 
the lake, together with the cannon and other 
arms he had taken from the Spaniards. Ex- 
pert divers searched the lake-bed for many 
days, by direction of the commander, but 
without discovering anything of great value, 
though an immense " sun " of solid gold (prob- 
ably a calendar disk) was fished from a pond 
in Guatemotzin 's garden. 

In this connection we should note the 
242 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

fate of that treasure obtained at such cost 
of blood and misdirected energy. Having 
wheedled the soldiers into relinquishing their 
shares, small as they were, to their sovereign 
in Old Spain, Cortes collected spoils to the 
amount of several hundred thousand crowns, 
consisting of gold and pearls, jewels and beau- 
tifully wrought golden ornaments, and de- 
spatched it all to Charles V. As fate would 
have it, the ship in which it was sent from 
Mexico was captured by a French corsair. 
When the king of France finally gazed upon 
this wonderful loot of a kingdom of which 
he had never heard, he is said to have sent 
word to Charles V. that he would like to 
know by what authority he and the king 
of Portugal had divided the world between 
them without giving him a share, and that 
he "desired to see the will of our father 
Adam, to know if he had made them ex- 
clusively his heirs." 

Together with the treasure went that 
precious letter from Cortes, written at Coyoa- 
can, when he ''left nothing in his inkstand 
which could be of service to his interests." 
This despatch, strange to say, eventually 
arrived in Spain, where it effectually tirged 
the cause of the soldiers, who had joined 
243 



HERNANDO CORTES 

with Cortes in a petition to his majesty, 
praying that he might be made governor 
and captain -general of New vSpain, and that 
all royal offices in the new colony might be 
bestowed upon the conquerors themselves, 
who alone were entitled to the same. Let- 
ters, petition, and treasure left Mexico in 
December, 1522, and in October of that year 
a royal commission creating Cortes as gov- 
ernor and captain-general had been signed by 
Charles, at Valladolid, which did not reach 
him until a long time after. 

Meanwhile, the rebuilding of the city of 
Mexico had gone on with great rapidity. 
Within two months of its evacuation it had. 
been cleansed and made ready for occu- 
pancy again, and within five months it gave 
promise, in its many splendid structures 
already erected, of a greater magnificence 
than the ancient capital could boast in its 
palmiest days. To those of his people who 
wished to reside in the city, Cort6s gave 
solar es, or lots of ground, and eventually 
2000 families occupied the district assigned 
to the Spaniards, while 30,000 Indians 
dwelt in Tlaltelolco. As the Aztecs had 
predicted, the Tezcocan and other allies 
who had assisted in demolishing their city, 
244 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

were compelled by the Spaniards to labor 
for many months at its reconstruction; but 
so, also, were the Mexicans themselves, and 
with such severity were they treated that 
many of them perished from famine and 
fatigue. 

The Cempoallan, Tlascalan, and Cholulan 
allies had been dismissed by Cortes, loaded 
with plunder of the sort to which the Span- 
iards attached no value, and were compelled 
to satisfy themselves with the thanks of the 
commander for their arduous kibors through- 
out the war. With the exception of the Tlas- 
calans, all were finally reduced to peonage, 
a system of slavery enforced by encomiendas. 
The gallant natives of the rugged country 
which had been so steadfast in its alliance 
with the conquerors were exempt from bond- 
age, and, with this negative reward for their 
assistance, they retired to their homes, many 
of them, it is said, bearing with them the 
salted flesh of unfortunate Aztecs taken in 
battle. 

Through the dispersion of the allies, and 
the alarming tidings which had been sent 
out by the Mexicans and their vassals dur- 
ing the progress of the siege, the whole em- 
pire had been informed of the triumph of 
245 



HERNANDO CORTES 

the teules from across the sea. Several 
tributary nations sent embassies to inform 
themselves respecting the overthrow of 
Aztec dominion, and among these came the 
king of Michoacan, a state or province near 
the western ocean, who brought a donation 
of gold and pearls. So impressed was the 
king by what he saw and heard, that he 
voluntarily rendered his homage, and when 
he returned to his country was accompanied 
by a few Spaniards, who were the first to 
view the Pacific Ocean, where its waters 
laved the shores of middle Mexico. Nearly 
ten years had elapsed since brave Balboa 
first looked upon the great "South Sea," 
"from a peak in Darien," almost looo miles 
nearer the equator; but these men sent by 
Cortes took possession of it as though a new 
discovery, in the name of Spain's great sov- 
ereign. This expedition was among the 
first of many exploring parties sent out by 
Cortes to ascertain the extent and resources 
of his vast domain. For the downfall of 
the Aztec capital carried with it dominion 
over nearly the entire empire. Such Indians 
as did not send in their allegiance to him 
were attacked in their strongholds and sub- 
dued. Within a few months a rebellion had 
246 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

been repressed in the province of Panuco, 
another in Coatzacoalcos, and a fruitless ex- 
pedition had been sent against the fierce 
Zapotecos, who fought with enormous spears 
having blades a yard in length. 

Under the faithful Sandoval, soldiers were 
kept in active service in every part of the 
country, while Alvarado subjected the south- 
ern Indians of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha'- 
ka) and Tehuantepec (Tay- wan'-tay-pec). 
In Oaxaca he found gold in such quantities 
that he commanded the native artisans to 
make his stirrups of that metal, and carried 
back an acceptable contribution to Cortes. 
He was so successful in this respect that he 
was given command of an expedition for the 
subjugation of Guatemala, and, after a series 
of battles with the hardy savages, succeeded 
in adding another vast province to the pos- 
sessions of Spain. 

In common with Columbus and all the ex- 
plorers in the New World, Cortes desired to 
solve the ''secret of the strait" which was 
supposed to connect the two great oceans. 
He was not aware of what was going on in 
the south, along the coast which Columbus 
had visited twenty years before; but he 
heard of rich gold deposits in the country 

17 247 



HERNANDO CORTES 

now known as Honduras, and conceived an 
idea that the undiscovered passage between 
the Atlantic and the Pacific might exist in 
that region. At all events he resolved to 
send an expedition out in search of it. A 
large armament was placed under command 
of Cristoval de Olid, which reached Honduras 
by sea, after visiting Cuba and sailing around 
the peninsula of Yucatan. The reports from 
Honduras were vague, but indicated won- 
derful wealth, insomuch that the fishermen 
along its coast were said to use nuggets of 
gold to weight their nets. It was in January, 
1524, that, prompted by avarice, Cortes de- 
spatched Olid to the conquest of Honduras, 
and set in motion a train of events which 
caused him infinite trouble and misery. 

Gold and treasure were the mainsprings 
of motive with Cortes in sending out his 
expeditions. As already mentioned, he had 
secured possession of Montezuma's tribute- 
books in "picture-writing," in which were 
set down the places whence that monarch's 
golden treasure was obtained, and to those 
districts his trusty captains were sent. As 
the valley of Mexico contained neither mines, 
plantations, nor manufactures, says Bernal 
Diaz, the veterans did not take kindly to 
248 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

a settlement there, but watched for oppor- 
tunities to visit the golden regions. 

A great rebellion broke out in southern 
Mexico, and Sandoval marched through the 
coast country going as far as Coatzacoalcos, 
hanging several caciques and burning others 
at the stake, so that in a short time peace 
reigned supreme throughout the land. It 
was on this expedition that he made the dis- 
covery, not at all relished by Cortes, that 
Dona Catalina, the neglected wife of his 
commander, ^lad arrived at Tabasco, whither 
she had come from Cuba. She was in search 
of her recreant lord and master, and of course 
Sandoval could do no less than provide her 
with an escort to the capital, for he was a 
gallant soldier and true cavalier. 

"Cortes was very sorry for her coming," 
says the blunt old soldier, Diaz ; '' but he put 
the best face upon it, and received her with 
great pomp and rejoicings. In about three 
months after the arrival of Dona Catalina, 
we heard of her having died of an asthma!" 

As it happened that, about this time, all 
the single men among the settlers newly 
arrived were ''up in arms" against a decree 
by Cortes that all bachelors should be sub- 
ject to a special tax, and all married men 
249 



HERNANDO CORTES 

who did not bring their wives, into the colony 
within eighteen months should forfeit their 
estates, this -unexpected arrival of Dona 
Catalina caused much mirth in Mexico, and 
was looked upon as an instance of "poetic 
justice!" 

Because the poor lady did not live long to 
enjoy her husband's honors, the enemies of 
Cortes charged that he had poisoned her! 
Several instances shortly afterwards occurred 
to confirm this impression, among them the 
sudden death of Francisco de Garay, one- 
time governor of Jamaica, a rival of Cortes 
in the colonization of the coast, who had 
been lured to the capital and, while a guest 
of the captain-general, had been seized with 
"pleurisy," expiring within four days of his 
arrival. A third victim was charged to his 
account, two or three years later, when a 
royal commissioner, Luis Ponce de Leon, 
who had been sent over to inquire into the 
administration of Cortes, was taken with a 
fatal illness and deceased before an inquiry 
could be set on foot. Notwithstanding that 
these people (whom it would serve the in- 
terests of Cortes best to have removed) had 
died of such diverse diseases as asthma, 
pleurisy, and ship-fever — as reported by the 
250 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

doctors in attendance — their takings-off were 
ascribed to the direct agency of their host, 
though the proof was insufficient to convict 
him. 

It must be remembered that Cortes was 
beset b}^ powerful enemies, not alone in 
Mexico, but also in Spain. The most power- 
ful and malignant of these was Bishop Fon- 
seca, of Burgos, who for many years was the 
actual head of the Spanish colonial depart- 
ment and ruled almost supreme. A stanch 
friend of Governor Velasquez, he had done 
his best to thwart the aims of Cortes and 
advance those of the former, but from the 
very beginning had himself been check- 
mated by his wily opponent in every move 
he made. Cortes had attempted by means 
of munificent gifts (as we have seen) to in- 
fluence his sovereign in his favor; but Fon- 
seca, with every ship under his supervision, 
and paid emissaries at every port of Spain, 
for a long time prevented these gifts, and 
the messengers with whom they were in- 
trusted, from being presented at court. 
Some of the first deputies sent by Cortes 
were even cast into prison, so great was the 
influence of Fonseca. For months and years 
the fate of Cortes and his comrades trembled 
251 



HERNANDO CORTES 

in the balance, the sport of an enemy ad- 
verse to their advancement, and unrecog- 
nized by a sovereign upon whom they had 
bestowed a realm of vaster extent than his 
combined possessions in Europe. He had 
not the capacity to estimate the importance 
of Mexico; but when, finally, the gifts ar- 
rived and were permitted to be shown him, 
he was moved to bestow rewards upon their 
donors. 

We should recall, in this connection, the 
status of Cortes and his band of adventurers : 
their equivocal position, as explorers sent 
out by Velasquez (in whom authority was 
vested). They had severed all ties that 
connected them with him, as governor of 
Cuba, and had embarked upon an indepen- 
dent career, after throwing themselves upon 
the favor of the Spanish court and king. 
The controversy, then, was between Cort6s 
and Velasquez, the latter supported by the 
all-powerful Fonseca, and the former with- 
out any foreign aid of importance, but seek- 
ing the support and countenance of his sov- 
ereign. 

Fonseca so far prevailed, in 1521, as to 
have a commissioner sent out to ''institute 
an inquiry into the general's conduct, to 
252 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

suspend him from his functions, and even to 
seize his person and sequestrate his property, 
until the pleasure of the Castilian court 
should be known." This commissioner was 
one, Tapia, whose warrant was signed by 
the royal regent in April, 1521, and who 
arrived at Villa Rica in December. 

So many obstacles of a diplomatic nature 
were thrown in his way, by the wary and yet 
courteous Cortes, that the feeble Tapia fell ill 
from disappointment. Finally, the captains 
of Cortes at the coast wrote him of all that 
had passed, and recommended him to send 
a goodly quantity of golden ingots, to try 
their effect in mollifying the fury of the 
would-be governor. These arrived by the 
return of the messenger, and with them they 
bought from Tapia his negroes, three horses, 
and one of his ships. In the other ship the 
commissioner himself embarked, and set sail 
for the island of Santo Domingo. 

This was not the first time (as we know) 
that the astute Cortes had submerged his 
enemies beneath a golden flood; and, as the 
sequel shows, even the puissant Charles could 
not withstand such an inundation as Cortes 
now poured upon him. Making another 
forcible appeal to his comrades and fellow- 
253 



HERNANDO CORTES 

colonists, he got together 100,000 crowns in 
gold and sent this sum to the king, together 
with a golden culverin, or small cannon, 
superbly wrought by native artisans, and in- 
scribed with these lines : 

"Th' immortal Phoenix, peerless, sweeps the air; — 
To Charles is given boundless rule to bear. 
Zealous to conquer, at my king's command, 
I in my services unrivalled stand." 

Not a word was said of the sturdy soldiers 
through whose aid Cortes had attained the 
dizzy height whence he addressed his sov- 
ereign with such assurance. They were now 
impoverished, and were treated with the 
same contempt that Charles himself bestowed 
upon the golden culverin, which he looked 
over carelessly, and then presented to a cer- 
tain don of Seville. Collectively, however, 
all his treasure, the plunder of murdered 
Mexicans, in the first place; in the second, 
mostly the pillage of poor soldiers, had a fa- 
vorable effect upon the emperor. He had the 
grace to review the matter respecting Cortes 
and his companions, and to refer it to a spe- 
cial commission, which not only acquitted 
him of treason to his sovereign and rebel- 
lion against Velasquez, but confirmed his 
254 



THE COLONIZATION OF MEXICO 

previous appointment as captain-general and 
justice - in - chief of the vast region he had 
subjugated. With the appointment was be- 
stowed a salary sufficient to the maintenance 
of a splendid state, and almost unHmited 
authority over the people, both Spaniards 
and Mexicans. 



XIX 

A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 
1524-1526 

CORTES was now established in power, 
but only as a military governor, while 
he had hoped to be a viceroy at least. He 
was assisted in the extension of Spanish 
authority on a basis of security, in the dis- 
tribution of lands to colonists, and the found- 
ing of towns and settlements, by the ayun- 
tamiento, or body of magistrates, which had 
been appointed at the very beginning of his 
Mexican career, at Vera Cruz. 

Some of their ordinances were so salutary 
that they are in force to-day, after the lapse 
of nearly four centuries; but it cannot be 
affirmed that all of them were righteous, for 
they sanctioned, particularly, the iniquitous 
system of encomiendas, which had caused the 
extermination of the native West - Indians. 
By this system almost countless Mexicans 
were doomed to hopeless slavery. Only the 
256 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

Tlascalans were relieved from rendering their 
unpaid services to cruel taskmasters; and if 
the Mexicans had not been a hardier people 
than their insular neighbors, they would 
have shared their fate. 

Throughout the whole extent of sub- 
jugated Mexico, which comprised a country 
with a coast -line, on the Atlantic, 1200 
miles in length, and on the Pacific 1500 
miles, the genius of Cortes was paramoimt, 
even to its remotest bounds. Under the 
supervision of Guatemotzin, the Aztecs and 
their former vassals labored at the up- 
building of the island capital. The "relig- 
ious men," brought to Mexico through the 
urgent prayers of Cortes, entered with fa- 
natic zeal into the conversion of the natives, 
destroying their temples and their idols, and 
bringing them by thousands under the wing 
of their church. While all these things were 
going on ; while the soil was being tilled, and 
the mines exploited for their wealth of gold 
and silver, expeditions for exploration and 
discovery were being sent out in every di- 
rection. 

It was but natural that Cort6s should be 
assailed by the envious and discontented, 
and the day of reckoning was yet to come; 
257 



HERNANDO CORTES 

but he brought his calamities to a crisis by 
a voluntary act of his own. It may be re- 
called that he had sent one of his captains 
to Honduras, with instructions to found a 
colony there and exploit such mines as might 
be discovered. Early in 1524 he learned 
that this captain, Christopher de OHd, had 
rebelled and asserted independence. This 
action could not be tolerated, of course, and 
so Cortes sent his kinsman, Las Casas (who 
had been the bearer of the despatches from 
Spain announcing his elevation to the cap- 
tian - generalcy) , on a punitive expedition 
to Honduras, ''with five ships and 100 men. 
This fleet was wrecked on the Honduras 
coast; but Las Casas secured possession 
of Olid, through treachery, and cut off his 
head. He then re-established the discarded 
authority of his commander; but Cortes, 
hearing only of the disaster that had over- 
taken his ships, and believing that the entire 
force had perished, resolved to set out for 
Honduras and avenge himself. 

Such a proceeding seems absurd, especial- 
ly in view of the fact that officers of. the king 
had recently arrived charged with an inquiry 
into the governor-general's doings. But it 
was characteristic of Cortes to transact im- 
258 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

portant business at first hand; besides, his 
ire had been aroused, and again, he wished 
to examine into the resources of Honduras, 
especially its mines of gold. 

The distance to Honduras by sea, through 
the Gulf of Mexico and around the penin- 
sula of Yucatan, was about 2000 miles. 
By land (but nearly all the way through a 
trackless wilderness), it was more than 1500. 
Distance did not matter with Cortes, so 
he set out on his wild-goose chase through 
the wilderness. If the conception of this 
expedition might be termed foolish, the 
manner of its equipment was certainly so. 
It would seem that he took with him near- 
ly all the useless and superfluous persons 
in Mexico, for, besides his fighting force 
of 250 soldiers and 3000 Indians, he in- 
cluded a steward and a butler, a chamber- 
lain, grooms, jugglers, falconers, puppet- 
players, priests ("two reverend fathers, 
Flemings, good theologians, to preach the 
faith"), a confectioner, pages of the house- 
hold, and armor-bearers. He also carried 
with him his valuable service of gold and 
silver, and a '' keeper-of -the -plate" to care 
for it, while there were musicians, jesters, 
and stage-dancers to drive away his melan- 
259 



HERNANDO CORTES 

choly. Nearly all these persons died by 
the way, during the twenty months of 
that terrible march through the forests, 
and most of the equipment was lost or 
consumed; but the service of plate was 
saved to the end, and went to Spain from 
Honduras as "evidence of the wealth" of 
that country. 

Though the city of Mexico was strongly 
garrisoned and the Aztecs in complete sub- 
jection, Cortes took along with him his royal 
prisoner, Guatemotzin, and the cacique of 
Tacuba, as hostages in case of an uprising of 
the Indians. These, too, were superfluous 
cares on the march; but he got rid of them 
before it was over, as will shortly be nar- 
rated. 

Striking due south from Mexico city, its 
progress retarded by a large herd of swine, 
the unique procession finally reached the 
province of Tabasco, in which (it will be re- 
membered) Cortes had his first encounter 
with the natives. Here were living several 
of the conquerors, including our old friend 
Bernal Diaz, the historian, afterwards gov- 
ernor of Guatemala. They had secured al- 
lotments of land, and were settled down to 
a life of peace; but they were compelled by 
260 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

Cortes to furbish up their armor, saddle their 
horses, and accompany him on the journey. 
After a good deal of grumbling they did so, 
for the commands of the captain-general 
must be obeyed ; but Diaz had a belated re- 
venge, forty years later, in "writing up" the 
expedition. 

Cortes deprived Tabasco province of the 
old soldiers, but he left there, by the way of 
exchange, his faithful Marina, who, now that 
her services could be dispensed with, was 
married to a cavalier of his army and given 
a valuable estate in the home of her ancestors. 
This is the last we shall hear of "Dona 
Marina," or Malinche, who had rendered in- 
estimable service to the Spaniards as inter- 
preter, and but for whom the conquest of 
Mexico by Cortes might not have been 
achieved. Her son, however, Don Martin 
Cortes, clung to the fortunes of his father, 
sharing in his honors and obloquy. He 
lived to become a man of mark in Mexico, 
but at one period of his life, was accused 
of treason to the state and put to the tor- 
ture. 

The days, the weeks, and the months 
passed by, and still the steadily diminishing 
army of Cortes floundered through the tropi- 
261 



HERNANDO CORTES 

cal forests of southern Mexico. No other 
portion of that country presents so many 
natural obstacles to travel as that covered 
by Cortes in his terrible march across the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Tabasco, and Chia- 
pas, with their vast labyrinth of rivers and 
swamps 

The rivers seemed innumerable, and some 
of them were nearly impassable. No man 
less determined than Cortes could have 
piloted that motley band through such dan- 
gers as were encountered. Again and again 
they were compelled to construct bridges of 
trees that grew along the banks of deep and 
rapid rivers, and pass over on these frail 
supports, trembling beneath the tread of 
their horses, only to find the labor must be 
immediately repeated. Sometimes they were 
obliged to swim across streams infested with 
alligators, which devoured their hogs and 
such horses as were disabled. 

The commander provided in advance for 
some contingencies, as, for instance, at 
Coatzacoalcos River were found canoes 
laden with provisions, which had been sent 
from the settlement at its mouth; farther 
on again, 300 canoes, manned by Indians, 
lay awaiting the arrival of the Spaniards, to 
262 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

ferry them across a rapid stream. But the 
time came when all signs of settlements were 
left behind, and ahead of them lay the vast 
and imexplored forest, with here and there 
an Indian hut or village, the only trails be- 
tween them being waterways. Famine as- 
sailed the wandering army, some of the Span- 
iards and many of the Mexicans falHng from 
exhaustion and dying in their tracks. In 
this extremity the Mexicans resorted to 
cannibalism. ''Some of their chiefs seized 
upon the natives of places through which we 
passed," says Diaz, "and concealed them 
with the baggage, until through hunger they 
had killed and eaten them, baking them in 
a kind of oven made with heated stones 
which are put under ground." 

On inquiry being made, it was found that 
the practice had become quite prevalent, 
and, despite the misery all were in, Cortes 
caused the chief cannibal to be burned aHve! 
Whether the surviving cannibals ate their 
barbecued cacique does not appear; but it 
is not Hkely that this dreadful warning had 
the desired effect. Famine had made them 
desperate, and to such an extent was the 
army reduced that even the soldiers bade 
Cortes defiance when, at one time, some 

'8 263 



HERNANDO CORTES 

scouts brought in a quantity of provisions, 
which they seized and devoured. Cortes 
and Sandoval complained that they had not 
eaten, that day, so much as a handful of 
maize. 

Still Cortes preserved his courage and 
clung to his scheme for revenge upon Olid, 
never once hinting of returning. Onward, 
ever onward, pressed the starving company, 
guided solely by a native map, rudely drawn, 
obtained from the Indian traders of Ta- 
basco, and a compass in the possession of 
the leader. 

One by one, and then by the score, per- 
ished the weaker members of the company, 
such as the buffoon, the pages, and the mu- 
sicians. As for these last, says the chron- 
icler of the march, *'as for our poor musi- 
cians with their instruments, their sackbuts, 
and their dulcimers, they felt the loss of the 
regales and feasts of Castile; and now their 
harmony was stopped, excepting one only, 
whom the soldiers used to curse whenever 
he struck up, saying *'it was maize they 
wanted, and not music." 

Though with starvation staring him in the 
face, his friends falling in death around him, 
and dangers thickening at every step, Cortes 
264 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

faltered not for a moment. The instinct of 
self-preservation was yet dominant within 
him, as shown by the most perfidious act in 
his long career of cruelty and crime — the 
execution of Guatemotzin. His royal pris- 
oner had survived nearly four years the con- 
quest of his capital, and Cortes had com- 
pelled him to share this comfortless journey 
in order to obviate a possible rising of the 
Aztecs during his absence. 

Guatemotzin could not fail to perceive 
the weak and emaciated condition of the 
Spaniards, outnumbered, as they were b}^ 
the Mexicans, ten to one, and he would have 
been more, or less, than human not to have 
considered that his time had come for re- 
venge. When, therefore, it came to the ears 
of Cortes that he intended to destroy the 
entire force of Spaniards, then return to the 
capital and head an insurrection of his former 
subjects, the suspicions of the commander 
w^ere confirmed. Being seized and accused, 
the royal warrior protested his innocence, 
and proof was lacking of a conspiracy; yet 
he and the cacique of Tacuba were sentenced 
to death. They were hanged from the Hmb 
of a ceiba-tree, in the forest -wilderness of 
Acalan, on a day in March, 1525. 
265 



HERNANDO CORTES 

As he was being led to execution, Guate- 
motzin turned to Cortes and said: "Malint- 
zin, now I find in what your false words and 
promises have ended — in my death! Bet- 
ter would it have been had I fallen by my 
own hand than to have trusted myself to 
you in my own city of Mexico. Oh, why do 
you thus unjustly take my life? May God 
demand of you this innocent blood!" 

The shadow of that horrible crime hung 
thick and black about Cortes, who alone was 
responsible for it, and for many nights he 
could not sleep, but wandered about as one 
distraught. In one of these nocturnal ram- 
blings he fell over the parapet of a ruined 
temple and received severe injuries, which 
he tried to conceal from his men, well aware 
that they knew his conscience was torturing 
him, but too proud to admit the fact. The 
Mexicans might now have mutinied, even 
without their king and leader, but "the 
wretches were so exhausted by famine, sick- 
ness, and fatigue" that they thought only of 
keeping their souls within their bodies. 

The ruined temple in which Cortes received 

his injuries may have been one of the great 

"Palenque" group, near which, it is known, 

he and his army passed; but no mention is 

266 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

made of the deserted city by name. The 
Indians regarded these ruins with venera- 
tion, as they also considered Cortes to be in 
league with supernatural powers through the 
medium of his compass. When accused of 
sharing in the conspiracy, these simple Mexi- 
cans begged him to look in his "mirror" and 
see for himself that they were loyal. They 
stood by him to the last, and after Honduras 
was reached were left to shift for themselves, 
such was his appreciation of their loyalty. 

Beyond Acalan province, after crossing a 
great river, the making of a bridge for which 
occupied them three days, the Spaniards 
came to the lake of Peten, with a wonderful 
island of teocallis in its centre. Here they 
tarried several days, and one of the horses, 
being disabled, was left with the natives. 
Cortes enjoined them to care for the ani- 
mal tenderly, and they did so to the best of 
their ability, setting before it flowers and 
fowls, basins of soup, and broiled fish; but 
without avail, for it died. Then they made 
a statue of it, which, as "the god of thunder 
and lightning," the people of Peten wor- 
shipped (it is said) for nearly loo years. 
This incident shows what a wild and Httle- 
known region was this traversed by Cortes, 
^67 



HERNANDO CORTES 

which remained for a century thereafter un- 
visited. 

As the soldiers descended towards the 
Gulf of Honduras they were drenched by 
the floods of the rainy season, which fell day 
and night, and caused the rivers to increase 
in volume so that several men and horses 
were drowned in crossing them. They scaled 
precipices, crossed great plains beneath the 
blaze of a torrid sun, and at one time were 
twelve days in passing over a mountain of 
flints, the sharp stones of which cut their 
horses' hoofs to pieces. 

At last the forlorn remnant of the band 
arrived at Golfo Dulce, on the opposite shore 
of which was the colony Olid had founded. 
Scouts were sent ahead, and the army placed 
in order for an attack upon the colonists, 
whom Cortes supposed still in rebellion. 
Great was his surprise to learn, on their re- 
turn, that Olid was dead, having been slain 
by Las Casas, and that all the several set- 
tlements, though on the verge of famine, 
were then loyal to Cortes and the king. 

What his feelings were, may better be 

imagined than described; but he must have 

felt disgusted with himself, after his months 

of wandering, his sufferings beyond imagin- 

268 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

ing, his terrible losses of life and property, 
to find that he had been all the time chas- 
ing a veritable will-o'-the-wisp. He had 
travelled more than 1500 miles, and had 
tested his and his soldiers' powers to the 
limit of human endurance, in order to punish 
a traitor who was already dead, before he 
left the capital! 

Notwithstanding his great labors on this 
journey, however, Cortes had no sooner 
learned the facts, than he set on foot several 
expeditions for discovery and conquest, tak- 
ing an active part in the chief est, and in 
one receiving a severe wound in the face 
from an Indian arrow. His name and pres- 
tige accompHshed more than legions of men 
could have achieved, for there was no Ind- 
ian so wild and ignorant that he had not 
heard of terrible Cortes the Conqueror! 

He formed the intention of pushing the 
conquest of Honduras, Guatemala, and ad- 
jacent provinces southward towards the 
narrowing of the isthmus at Nicaragua and 
Panama, but by chance one day discovered 
colonists sent up from that region by Pe- 
drarias, the man who had beheaded Balboa. 

Perceiving that the great southern region 
had been, in a sort, pre-empted, Cortes aban- 
269 



HERNANDO CORTES 

doned his intention of conquest in that di- 
rection and resolved to return to Mexico. 
No news had come from the capital since 
his arrival in Honduras; but finally, one 
evening, as he and some companions were 
walking the beach at Truxillo, they espied 
a sail. A ship was standing into the bay, 
the captain of which, when he reached the 
shore, hastened to deliver to Cortes some 
despatches from Mexico, by way of Havana. 

*' As soon as Cortes read them he was over- 
whelmed with sorrow and distress," says 
the ever-faithful Diaz. "He retired to his 
apartment, where we could hear, from his 
groans, that he was suffering the greatest 
agitation. He did not stir out for an entire 
day; at night he confessed his sins, after 
which he called us together and read the 
intelligence he had received, whereby we 
learned that it had been universally reported 
and believed in New Spain that we were all 
dead, and our properties, in consequence, 
had been sold by public auction." 

This was only half the story, for. from his 
father, in Spain, Cortes learned that intrigues 
were going on against him at court, while in 
Mexico there was a condition of affairs bor- 
dering upon anarchy. It was small consQ- 
270 



A PERILOUS EXPEDITION 

lation for Cortes to reflect that for the 
conditions in Mexico, as for the disasters to 
his expedition, he alone was responsible. 
When he left the capital he had placed in 
charge two deputies, Estrada, the treasurer, 
and Albornos, the contador; but two other 
persons, who had accompanied him a short 
distance on the expedition, had wheedled 
themselves into his confidence and obtained 
power to supersede the deputies. Two par- 
ties were formed ; civil war had resulted ; there 
was bloodshed in the streets of the capital; 
the Indians of three provinces had revolted, 
and defeated the forces sent to subdue theni. 
Plunged into deep dejection by these tid- 
ings, Cortes knew not what to do, at one 
time deciding to stay and form a new con- 
federation in Central America, again resolv- 
ing to make all haste for Mexico. He was 
finally urged to the latter course, and, after 
several ineffectual efforts to embark, at last 
set sail from Truxillo on April 25, 1526, ar- 
riving at Vera Cruz a month later, and at 
the capital the third week in June, after an 
absence of more than twenty months. 



XX 

LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

WHEN Cortes landed in Mexico he was 
a mere wreck of his former self, worn 
and haggard, and so changed that no one 
knew him. His face was wan, his form 
emaciated; but his deep voice still retained 
the magic of its tones, and when the people 
heard it they recognized him instantly. He 
would have remained incognito, fearing vio- 
lence from his enemies, but his friends would 
not have it so. From house to house, from 
town to village, along the route to the capital, 
ran the message, 'Xortes has returned." 
The immediate answer to it was a sponta- 
neous welcome such as no man in Mexico ever 
received before. Feasts and fetes succeeded, 
all along the way, and when at last he ar- 
rived at Tezcoco and took possession of his 
palace there, the enthusiasm of the populace 
burst all bounds. Bells rang and cannon 
272 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

roared their welcomes, the air resounded 
with acclaim. The chief enemies of Cortes 
were now in prison, the two arch conspirators 
against him confined in wooden cages, and 
for a time it seemed as if he had reached the 
zenith of glory and power. But while this 
joyous demonstration appeared to voice the 
feelings of the people, there was no lack of 
evidence that it was false. The very palace 
in which Cortes resided, and which he had 
built for himself in the centre of the city, 
had been sacked during his absence, and the 
ground around it dug over for the treasure 
which it was supposed he had concealed. 
All his portable property had been seized 
and squandered, the major portion in cele- 
brating his funeral services and " in purchas- 
ing masses for the salvation of his soul." 

The natives were no longer at enmity with 
Cortes. They had strewn his pathway from 
the coast with flowers, had been loudest in 
greeting; but from his own countrymen he 
experienced the harshest treatment. Scarce- 
ly had the sound of rejoicings died away, 
than word came from the coast that a royal 
officer had arrived from Spain to establish 
a residencia — or an official inquiry — into the 
affairs of Cortes, who was charged with ap- 
273 



HERNANDO CORTES 

propriating the treasures of Guatemotzin, of 
seeking to maintain himself independently 
of the crown, of withholding its revenues, 
and many other things. 

He knew the futility of opposing the em- 
peror's commands, so he politely welcomed 
the royal commissioner, Luis Ponce de Leon, 
attended him to his palace, and set forth a 
sumptuous banquet in his honor, at Izta- 
palapan. Several of the commissioner's com- 
pany were made very ill by partaking of 
some delicious cheese-cakes at this banquet, 
and as the gentleman himself was seized with 
a mysterious and fatal malady, soon after 
he opened the court of inquiry, rumors soon 
filled the air that Cortes had poisoned him. 
The sudden deaths of Dona Catalina and 
Garay were brought to mind, and at a later 
inquiry an official charge was made against 
him as having been instrumental in causing 
them. The successor of De Leon took the 
most sinister view. He persecuted Cortes in 
many ways, and finally issued an order for 
his expulsion from the capital. Sq far as 
the court of inquiry had proceeded, Cortes 
had been vindicated and the charges brought 
against him refuted ; but he was weary of the 
perpetual assaults upon his integrity. He 
274 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

resolved to set out immediately for Spain, and 
demand justice from his majesty; although 
it has been made to appear that his going 
thither was not a voluntary act, but had been 
brought about by machinations at the court. 

One thing very conspicuous in the atti- 
tude of Cortes is his respect, even reverence, 
for the authority of his sovereign. He 
promptly obeyed the royal commands, and 
his restraint in this instance may be ap- 
preciated when it is recalled that the judicial 
commissioners had authority (he was told) 
to confiscate his properties, and even to cut 
off his head, if found guilty of the charges 
urged against him. 

Though the priests and politicians had 
absorbed much of his money, Cortes had 
sufficient available to purchase and pro- 
vision two vessels, in which he set sail for 
Spain. After a voyage of forty days he 
arrived at the port of Palos, in the last of 
December, 1527, and thence set out to visit 
the court. From this same port of Palos, 
thirty-four years before him, Christopher 
Columbus had started on a similar journey, 
after returning from his first voyage to 
America. Both Columbus and Cortes were 
everywhere received with acclaim by the 
275 



HERNANDO CORTES 

people, and both took with them specimens 
of the new country's products, as well as 
Indian captives. Cortes took gems, gold, 
and the famous feather- work ; while as types 
of the natives he had several Aztec and 
Tlascalan chiefs, and a son of Montezuma. 
Arrived at court, Cortes pleased the em- 
peror by his engaging presence, for, as one 
of his admirers once remarked, he "must 
have been for a long time past exercising 
himself in the manners of a great man." He 
threw himself at his sovereign's feet, but 
Charles graciously commanded him to rise, 
and smilingly received from his hands the 
memorial in which was narrated the exploits 
of the conquerors, and especially those of 
Cortes himself, in winning a vast empire 
for Spain. At this first reception by the 
court, and on subsequent occasions, Charles 
conversed familiarly with Cortes, and sought 
his advice as to the best methods of govern- 
ment in Mexico. He showed him many 
marks of esteem, and when Cortes fell sick 
of a fever the haughty monarch condescend- 
ed to visit him at his lodgings, which was 
considered a crowning act of graciousness, 
and turned the tide of adulation full upon 
Mexico's conqueror. A more striking proof 
276 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

of the monarch's appreciation was afforded 
by his investing Cortes with the title of 
"Marquis of the Valley" (of Mexico), carry- 
ing with it a vast domain in Oaxaca, con- 
taining twenty towns and as many thou- 
sand Indian vassals. 

The presence of Cortes at court had not 
only allayed the emperor's suspicions, but 
caused a reaction in his favor. The honors 
heaped upon him, also, turned his head, and 
he ''began to assume haughty airs" towards 
others not so forttmate. He aspired to be 
viceroy of New Spain, or at least its govern- 
or-in-chief ; but Charles looked coldly upon 
this proposition, though he created him 
captain-general, and permitted him to prose- 
cute discoveries in the great South Sea. 
He could colonize, and himself rule such 
colonies as he might establish, while of. all 
his discoveries he was to receive one-twelfth 
as his own. 

One other thing which Cortes ardently 
aspired to was an alliance with the nobility. 
This aspiration was gratified by the noble 
house of Bejar. The duke of Bejar had 
been his friend in adversity, and his niece, 
the young and beautiful Juana de Zuniga, 
gladly gave her hand to the conqueror of 
277 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Mexico. Despite his many adventures and 
escapades, his years (which were now forty- 
five), and the privations he had undergone, 
Cortes was still an attractive man; perhaps 
all the more attractive because of his ex- 
periences. There was no thought of the dis- 
parity in age or rank when he led his youth- 
ful bride to the altar, for the glamour of the 
gems he had presented to her attracted the 
attention of all that brilliant throng assem- 
bled for the nuptials. "They were the 
spoils of Indian princes, whom Cortes had 
murdered to obtain them; but they shone 
resplendent on the person of fair Juana de 
Zuniga, and so excited the envy of Queen 
Isabella that, from being the friend of the 
Conqueror, she became his enemy, for they 
were the most magnificent jewels in Old 
Spain." 

The jealousy of the queen, on account of 
the jewels, moved her, it is said, to prohibit 
the entrance of Cortes and his bride into the 
city of Mexico, when at last, wearying of 
dancing attendance upon the court, he sailed 
again for the scenes of his greatest advent- 
ures. The emperor had left for Flanders, 
so nothing more was to be gained by remain- 
ing. Together with his wife, the marquesa, 
278 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

and his aged mother (who was now a widow, 
Don Martin Cortes having died in 1527), 
the hero of Mexico sailed for Hispaniola, 
whence, after tarrying a while, he departed 
for Vera Cniz, where he landed in July, 
1530. He returned to Mexico with a large 
retinue of menials, as became a man with 
an income exceeding $100,000 per annum, 
and with a title to maintain. Interdicted 
by the queen's orders from entering the 
capital, he took up his residence for a time 
at Tezcoco, where he held splendid court, 
assisted by his lovely bride. To such an 
extent was the city of Mexico represented 
there, by its most distinguished cavaliers, 
that the governor issued an edict imposing 
a fine upon such natives as should follow 
their example. This governor, Nufio de 
Guzman, was the head of the royal audiencia, 
or court of inquiry, into the administration 
of Cortes, which had been sent out from 
Spain in 1527. He was an inveterate enemy 
of the conqueror, and while in supreme pow- 
er pursued him with vindictive energy. The 
suggestions of this audiencia, which were 
inimical to Cortes, were never acted on by 
the sovereign, and it was soon superseded 
by another at the head of which was a friend 
19 279 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of the marquis, the good bishop of Santo 
Domingo. The persecution of Cortes was 
relaxed; but there arose differences between 
him and the new audiencia as to the appor- 
tionment of his Indian vassals, and finally, 
disgusted at the treatment he received in 
the capital, he left it and v/ent to Cuer- 
navaca, where he had vast estates, and 
where he built a princely palace. 

The reader will recall the manner in whic^ 
Cuernavaca was taken by the Spaniards un- 
der Cort6s, while preparations for the in- 
vestment of Mexico were going on: how the 
soldiers crossed one of the two deep barrancas, 
or ravines, between which it lay, on the 
trunks of trees which met above the abysmal 
chasm. Its beauty of position and the fer- 
tility of the smiling valleys sloping to the 
south attracted Cortes to the spot, who, 
after shaking the dust of the capital from 
his feet, established himself here and en- 
gaged in agriculture with an ardor only sur- 
passed by that with which he had formerly 
pursued the Aztecs. 

The fact that Cortes chose this bit of 
earthly paradise as a retreat for his old age 
indicates that, after all, he loved the beau- 
tiful in nature. The veritable castle he 
280 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

constructed, in which he planned the de- 
. velopment of his baronial estate, and his 
expeditions to the Gulf of California, still 
stands, in a well-chosen spot on the brink of 
the barranca once crossed by the tree-trunk 
bridge. There it commands a peerless view, 
comprising the great valleys, the mountain 
passes, and the snow -crowned dome of 
Popocatepetl. 

This period of his Hfe reminds us of the 
peaceful and quiet existence led by him in 
Cuba, with his first wife. Dona Catalina, be- 
fore ambition robbed him of his rest. He 
had achieved fame and wealth, and now, 
apparently contented, he devoted himself to 
agriculture, the noblest of professions. He 
introduced merino sheep into Mexico, and 
was the first to bring the sugar-cane into 
that country. Cortes became a successful 
planter; but life in Cuernavaca was too tame 
and tranquil for the restless conqueror of 
Mexico, who possessed royal authority to 
discover and colonize new lands, and to ex- 
plore the great South Sea. 

In 1527, the year he went to Spain, he had 

fitted out a squadron for the Spice Islands, 

and was preparing another when he left the 

country. He intended it should await his 

281 



HERNANDO CORTES 

return from Spain; but the audiencia inter- 
fered, called away his workmen, and allowed 
the ships to decay. 

In 1532 and 1533, availing himself of the 
powers vested in him by his sovereign, he 
sent out several ships from the port of Aca- 
pulco; but nothing of importance resulted 
save the barren discovery of Lower Cali- 
fornia. One of the vessels was wrecked on 
the coast of New Galicia, which territory was 
under the rule of Guzman, who promptly 
seized it as a prize. As he refused to release 
it, Cortes immediately marched against him 
with a small army, recovered the ship, and 
joined it to another squadron which he had 
prepared in his own port of Tehuantepec. 
This, his fourth venture upon the little-known 
waters of the great Pacific, he commanded 
himself, and such was the prestige attaching 
to his name, even at this date, fifteen years 
after the conquest of Mexico (for this was in 
1537), ^^^^ volunteers flocked to his stand- 
ard from every quarter. Twice as many 
offered as he could carry in his ships, and 
he eventually sailed with 400 colonists and 
300 slaves to form a settlement in Lower 
California. 

This expedition ended in disaster, like the 
282 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

others, for many of the colonists were killed 
by Indians, or perished of starvation, and 
the survivors were finally brought back to 
Mexico. Cortes himself preceded them, after 
having organized a search for some of his 
ships, which were wrecked on the coast of 
Jalisco, and doing everything he could to 
place the wretched colony upon a firm foun- 
dation. He did not return, however, until 
the marquesa, alarmed at his long absence 
without tidings, petitioned the viceroy to 
send out ships in search of him. 

Still undaunted, and filled with the pur- 
pose of exploiting the pearl fisheries of the 
great gulf (which have since become so fa- 
mous), the marquis sent out a fifth and last 
expedition, in command of Captain Ulloa. 
Yielding to the persuasions of his wife, he 
did not accompany this squadron, and it 
was fortunate for him, as the flag-ship never 
returned to port. In a certain sense this 
enterprise resulted in greater rewards to 
science than the others, for Ulloa explored 
the Gulf of California, following all the in- 
dentations of its western shores, and the 
opposite coast of the peninsula as far up as 
the twenty -eighth degree of north latitude. 

These various maritime ventures of Cortes 
383 



HERNANDO CORTES 

in the Pacific cost him upward of 300,000 
crowns, and the net results to him con- 
sisted in being known as the discoverer of 
Lower California, and in having the gulf 
named after him, the "Sea of Cortes." Al- 
though he still held a vast extent of landed 
property around Cuernavaca and in the 
marquisate of Oaxaca, his several expedi- 
tions and his extravagant mode of living had 
plunged him deeply into debt. Writing to 
the president of the royal council of the In- 
dies in 1538, he says: **I have enough to do 
to maintain myself in a village (probably 
Cuernavaca), where I have my wife, without 
daring to reside in the capital city, or come 
to it, as I have not the means to live in it; 
and if sometimes I come, because I cannot 
avoid doing so, and remain in it a month, 
I am obliged to fast for a year." 

That this dismal tale should be taken 
"with a grain of salt " appears from his con- 
dition three years later, when, notwithstand- 
ing his plea of poverty, he carried on his per- 
son jewels of inestimable value. 

As the owner of a castle and estate in 
Cuernavaca, palaces in Tezcoco and the capi- 
tal, silver-mines in Zacatecas, and gold de- 
posits in Oaxaca, the marquis could not have 
(284 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

been in very straitened circumstances it 
would appear. He even contested with the 
viceroy Mendoza (who had represented the 
king in Mexico since 1535) the honor of send- 
ing an expedition in search of the "Seven 
Cities of Cibola," then recently brought to 
light by a wandering monk. Coming into 
collision with the viceroy over this affair, 
and regarding his claims as an interference 
with his rights, Cortes determined to sail for 
Spain and in person state his many griev- 
ances to the emperor. 

Leaving the marquesa in charge of his 
properties, and taking with him their oldest 
son and heir, Don Martin Cortes, then eight 
years of age, he embarked at Vera Cruz 
sometime in 1540. Arrived in Spain, he 
had the chagrin to find the emperor absent 
(for he seems always to have been either 
setting out for, or arriving from, Flanders), 
and, Queen Isabella having died the year 
before, there was no one in authority to give 
him a hearing. 

There was no lack of courtesy on the part 
of the court, for that cost little, and, more- 
over, was a Spanish prerogative; but he re- 
ceived nothing more, though he danced at- 
tendance upon it nearly seven years, The 
?8S 



HERNANDO CORTES 

emperor returned in due time, but he was 
a different Charles from the one who had 
seated Cortes at his right hand in public and 
had called upon him at his lodgings when 
ill. He was the same sovereign, but Cortes 
had no longer anything to offer. He had run 
his career, was old and useless, and, more- 
over, it was Peru now, and not Mexico, that 
sent the gold-laden galleons to Spain. 

He allowed Cortes to accompany the ex- 
pedition to Algiers, in 1541, for the sup- 
pression of the Algerian pirates. But the 
expedition was a failure, the ship containing 
the marquis and his son was wrecked, and 
they only escaped by swimming ashore, nar- 
rowly missing being captured by the pirates. 
The marquis had with him, on this occasion, 
those gems beyond price which he had pre- 
sented to his bride, and which he had better 
have left with the marquesa, for, though 
bound tightly to his arm, somehow they were 
lost in the sea. ''This loss made the ex- 
pedition fall more heavily on the Marquis 
of the Valley," says his chaplain, "than on 
any other man in the kingdom, except the 
emperor"; but it did not affect him more 
than the indifference of Charles to his sug- 
gestions. He offered to lead a forlorn hope 
286 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

against the place, if he could be supported. 
Not only was the offer ignored, but when a 
council of war was called, he was not even 
invited to a seat at the board. The great- 
est captain Charles V. ever owned (soul and 
body, body and soul) was treated by him 
like the dogs that fed from his table! 

Yet this was the Cortes, and this the king, 
of whom Spain's great poet wrote : 

" Al rey infinitas tierras, 
Y a Dios infinitas almas. ^' 
" To his king he gave unbounded countries, to 
his God innumerable souls " : 

It is a privilege of the poet to exaggerate, 
but not of the historian. This anecdote re- 
lated by Voltaire may be fictional but in- 
trinsically it is true: After long lingering at 
the court, one day Cortes broke through a 
crowd surrounding the emperor's carriage 
and leaped upon the step. 

"Who is this man?" demanded the indig- 
nant Charles. 

"It is one," replied the marquis, fiercely, 
"who has given you more provinces than 
your ancestors left you cities!" 

Still he went unrecognized, for more than 
twenty years had elapsed since the conquest 
287 



HERNANDO CORTES 

of Mexico, and his day had ended. The 
months and the years went by, yet Cortes 
lingered, as tenacious of his rights as ever, 
his weakness consisting in an abject depend- 
ence upon his sovereign. He was never to 
receive another favor from that sovereign, 
but he resolved that Charles should not be 
allowed to forget his services. In the last 
of those famous letters to the emperor, writ- 
ten on February 3, 1544, he says: " I thought 
that, having labored in my youth, it would 
so profit me in my old age that I might have 
ease and rest; for now it is forty years that 
I have been occupied, with little sleep, eat- 
ing ill, and sometimes neither well nor ill; 
in bearing armor, in placing my person in 
danger, in spending my estate and my life, 
all in the service of God ; . . . also increasing 
and making broad the patrimony of my 
king — gaining for him and bringing under 
his yoke and royal sceptre many and . very 
great kingdoms of barbarous nations, all won 
by my own person, and at my own expense, 
without being assisted in anything; on the 
contrary, being much hindered by many 
jealous and envious persons who, like leeches, 
have been filled to bursting with my blood!" 
Nothing availed, however, to move the 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

emperor, and three more years of hopeless 
waiting passed away. "The marquis was 
now grown old and he was worn down by 
fatigues; he was therefore very anxious to 
return to Mexico; but a treaty was on foot 
between his eldest daughter, for whom he 
had sent, and the son and heir to the mar- 
quis of Astorga." This marriage agreement 
was repudiated, and, broken in spirit, his 
pride deeply woimded, with the injustice of 
his sovereign rankling in his breast, he pre- 
pared to return to his home. During all 
these years of shameful neglect his faithful 
wife had awaited his return, his children at 
home had been without a father's care. 
Only his devoted son Martin, now a youth 
of fifteen, was with him when the end came, 
finally, when on his way to the coast. Be- 
neath his accumulated misfortunes he sank 
rapidly, and passed away on December 2, 
1547, at the age of sixty-two. 

His mortal career ended at Castilleja, a 
suburb of Seville, whence he was borne to 
the tomb of the Medina Sidonias, followed 
by members of that ducal family, and the 
highest of the Andalusian nobility. He was 
entombed in the land of his birth; but this 
was not his last resting-place, for his remains, 
?89 



HERNANDO CORTES 

like those of Columbus (whose experience of 
the ingratitude of sovereigns was similar to 
his own), were finally taken to the country- 
he had conquered by his sword. 

Don Martin, his faithful son, returned to 
Mexico alone. He fell heir to his father's 
titles and properties, and, in accordance with 
the provisions of his last will and testament, 
the remains of the marquis were taken to 
Mexico and placed in the Franciscan mon- 
astery at Tezcoco, by the side of his mother 
and a daughter. This was in 1652. Sixty- 
seven years later they were transferred to 
the church of St. Francis, in the city of 
Mexico. On this occasion all the dignitaries 
of Mexico marched in procession through the 
streets of the city won by Cortes more than 
a century before. The revered relics were 
guarded by men in armor, Spanish cavaliers, 
and foot-soldiers carrying arquebuses, with 
trailing banners, reversed pikes, and muffled 
drums. Five generations pass away, and 
again, in 1794, we see the mouldering dust 
disturbed, when there was another removal 
to the hospital of Jesus. All that then re- 
mained of the great captain was placed in a 
crystal casket, above which was reared a 
monument adorned with a bust in bronze. 
290 



LAST VOYAGES AND LAST DAYS 

These various removals had been inspired 
by regard; but it was a different sentiment 
that caused the next disturbance, in 1823, 
when a revolutionary mob, in order to show 
its detestation of the Spanish conquist adores, 
essayed to desecrate the tomb. The casket 
was secretly removed, in the dead of night, 
by the duke of Monteleone (a descendant of 
Cortes in the female line) , and for more than 
seventy years remained in a place of safety, 
unknown save to a few. Monteleone was 
killed in a revolution, and all knowledge of 
the spot was lost ; but within a few years the 
remains have been discovered, and a move- 
ment started to have them placed in the na- 
tional pantheon, which Mexico has erected 
to all the great names in its history. 

The male line from the marquis became 
extinct in the fourth generation, when title 
and estates passed by marriage to the ducal 
family of Monteleone, Neapolitan nobles. 
How nearly obliterated has become the line 
that Cortes founded is indicated in the 
mournful statement of its only survivor at 
the time the secret casket was discovered, 
"I am the sole descendant of Hernando 
Cortes, and when I die leave no poster- 
ity!" 

291 



HERNANDO CORTES 

Thus in a breath we have a commentary 
on human greatness and renown; thus in a 
sentence is pronounced an epitaph of the 
family founded by Cortes the Conqueror. 



THE END 



SEP 21 1905 



